Life Isn't Always Terrible
by bhbutterfly
Summary: Sometimes life deals you a rough hand. You may have to go through some bad to get to the good. After all, life isn't always terrible. Paul/OC Imprint story. Warning: abuse, violence, swearing, rape
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer (For the entire story): All rights go to Stephanie Meyer. She wrote Twilight; I did not. Just in case you were wondering. Any recognizable parts are hers. **

**Thank you all for choosing to read! I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think : )**

Life isn't always easy. Sometimes it throws you curve balls and hard times, sometimes you get hurt, feel lonely, have heartache. But if you are really lucky sometimes you get something special. Fate makes up for all the crap it hands you and gives you a blessing. My blessing came in the package of Ella May, my own personal angel.

I'm Paul Lahote and this is my story.


	2. Chapter 2

I can assure you that if you ask anyone they would tell you what an ass I am. According to them I am not capable of kind words or gentle touches. The population of La Push, Forks, and Port Angeles would all tell you I am the biggest jerk on the face of the planet. I have no respect for anyone, especially women. And they would be right.

I never got any "kind words" or "gentle touches". People are idiots and don't deserve my respect. Girls are sluts and if they want to act like it then who am I to stop them. It's really pretty simple.

Girls have the tendency to fling themselves at me. I am 6' and not the ugliest guy around. In the past month or so I have grown about 4". I could use some more muscle, but I'm not down right scrawny. Let's just say that I did not have it to bad.

As I had just gotten out of my car, I noticed one of the guys, Dex, by the stairs and went to meet him to walk into school.

"Hey man," he said as I approached him.

"Hey, how you doin'?" I asked. We walked through the doors of the school and began making our way to our lockers.

"Fine. Hung out with Mindy last night," Dex said with a smirk on his face. Mindy was one of the sluts I was talking about earlier. She was willing to do anyone who wanted it. I sometimes went to her if I didn't feel like working for it. With her, all I had to do was stop by. After I finished with her I always made sure to follow the number one rule: never stay after you're finished. Now I'm not saying I don't make sure she is taken care of because then I would never get any. All I'm saying is that I never stay around for all the cuddling and shit girls like to do.

"Ya, how was that?" I asked even though it wasn't hard to guess. Then again it wasn't like I really cared either.

Dex answered smirking, "You know what it is like with Mindy." That I did.

I put my bag in my locker and went to class. Next time I saw Dex was before the last period of the day. We were walking to my locker to grab my stuff.

As I turned the corner of the hallway my locker was in, some girl ran straight into me. She went crashing to the floor along with both of our books. "Watch where you are going bitch!" I yelled as I began picking up my books. At this point every one in the hall stopped to stare. I looked down to see who I had sent to the floor. Of course. Ella May Jameston. Of course she was going to go crashing to the floor; she is like 5'2" and weights like 105lbs. It also didn't help that I was larger than your average male teenager.

I had known Ella since we were in Pre-K. We were never very good friends. She is this tiny, quiet girl. She sits by her self at lunch and never talks to anyone in class. I guess if you got picked on by everyone in the school, you don't feel very welcome to start conversation. She really brings it on herself. If she wasn't so introverted and was more outgoing people wouldn't feel the need to harass her.

As I finished picking up my books I realized Dex was standing next to me snickering and watching as Ella continued to retrieve her things from the ground. I began to turn away, and as I was doing so, I saw Dex kick one of Ella's books just as she was going to grab it. " Next time, try to stay on your feet," he exclaimed loudly, causing the rest of the kids in the hall to start laughing. As we started walking away, I just rolled my eyes. And people say I'm the bigger jerk. Dumbasses.

If I had known then what would happen in the next coming weeks, I would have handled the situation completely differently.


	3. Chapter 3

As the week progressed I began to feel extremely sick. By Friday I didn't even go to school. I live by myself and had to call the school to let them know I wouldn't be in today. Being 18 does have it's advantages.

I decided to order a pizza because I was so hungry but didn't feel like moving to be able to put something in the microwave. Suffice it to say, I learned early that cooking and I just don't mix well. The pizza guy came and dropped off the pizza and I shoved a bunch of money at him figuring that it would cover the cost. As I was walking to the kitchen to put the pizza down, I stumbled because of the extreme pain I was feeling in my legs. I dropped the pizza right on the floor. "Dammit!" I screamed. I didn't understand what was happening to me. The shaking got worse. I decided that I would go out side to help calm down. My body seemed to be vibrating as I stumbled through the door. As I stepped off the back porch the shaking became so bad I fell to the ground. My body felt like it was exploding and then all the pain and the shaking stopped. Unfortunately that only brought on new problems. I began hear voices in my head. Which just for the record did not help the fact that I was freaking out. Like Defcon 1 freaking out.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, what's going on?! This can not be happening! Why do I have paws?! What's going on?!"

"Dude would you quit screaming," I heard a voice snicker... And when I say I heard it, I really meant that it was just in my head. I didn't actually hear it with my ears.

"What?! Who is this?! I'm not screaming I am just thinking! Why are you in my head?!"

"Jared shut up," I heard another voice. Great now I'm crazy not only hearing one voice but two. Wait, did voice number two just say Jared? As in Jared from my math class? The asshole who started ignoring everyone?!

"I heard that dumbass. It wasn't like I had a choice."

"Both of you shut up!" voice number two seemed to scream. Now I got the whole screaming thing. I felt as though I couldn't say anything. I whimpered. "I'm sorry Paul, but we need to move into the forest," voice number two said. I just now realized I was laying on the ground with two very large wolves standing on either side of me. I stood up and began walking toward the forest. The backyard of my house led straight into the trees. "Alright Paul, I suppose you have some questions." He said it like a statement rather than a question.

"You think? How the hell is this even possible?! Why do I have paws and fur?!" I shouted in my mind.

Sam then proceeded to explain to me how the legends that I had been hearing since I was born were all true. It kinda pissed me off that they knew I was going to phase into a giant dog and decided I couldn't know until it actually happened. He then explained how anger triggered the phasing and I was going to need to control my temper. This conversation shifted into all the extra things that came with being a wolf. Who would have thought that magically transforming into a wolf could be so complex... Did you catch the sarcasm there?

The great and powerful Alpha was now going on about something called imprinting. We have been mind talking for about three hours. "...and you have no choice in the matter. You are bound to her for life." Wait, what did he just say?! "Are you even paying attention Paul? Why am I even talking if you aren't listening?"

"First of all you're not talking. You are putting thoughts into my head. Second, Why is this imprinting thing so great? I lose all my free will and am stuck with one chick for the rest of my life! Doesn't seem like a good thing."

"Paul, fate is pretty much handing you the woman of you dreams. She is going to make you the happiest you could possibly be. You should be relieved. You may actually find the one girl who can put up with your dumb ass," Jared snickered.

Before I even realized what I was doing, I lunged for Jared's throat. He quickly danced away. "Well on that note I am giong to see my one and only. Have fun Sam." Before Jared fully phased out, we were flooded with images of Kim, Jared's keeper.

"It really is a wonderful thing Paul," Sam quietly said. I just rolled my eyes. I didn't want any part of it. I highly doubted I would ever imprint. And if I did I would fight it for all I was worth. Sam then proceeded to show me all of the different patrol lines and some fighting techniques.

Little did I know.


	4. Chapter 4

It took me about 10 hours to phase back to being a human again. Then it took about 10 seconds for me to return to my furry side. Fucking Jared. Dumbass comes up and shoves me! Of course I'm going to get pissed! Sam had to keep me away from him with an alpha order. Yet another stupid part of turning into a horse sized wolf: the almighty alpha order. Anything good, old Sammy boy says is how things go.

I suppose its not all that terrible. I actually have a couple ounces of respect for the guy. He had to go through this shit alone and then had to deal with the curse of imprinting along with its repercussions, alone. Pissy ex, scarred imprint, the list just goes on! He is actually one of the only people I respect around here. And Emily. She has to deal with the three of us and still feeds us whenever we need. She is not so bad. Plus if Sam sees us disrespecting her we are not allowed back for two days. Obviously not going to screw that up.

Jared is not so bad. Annoying as hell, but at least he's someone else to talk to while dealing with all this. I had been out of school for a week and a half with the excuse of strep. Tomorrow would be my first day back. Jared was only out for like 3 days but he is a hell of a lot more calm than I am.

We were all sitting around Sam's table stuffing our face talking about it.

"Paul, Jared is going to be around you a lot more now. He will be the one you eat lunch with, talk with in between class, everything. Avoid the other students as much as possible. You are still to volatile to be freely interacting with everybody," Sam reminded me, yet again.

I just nodded my head that I understood. Jared and me were going to learn to be best buds. Speaking of which, "What am I supposed to say to my friends when they want to talk and hang out?"

"You just have to tell them you can't hang out with them. I know it sucks, but this is the way things need to be for now," Sam replied.

"Plus all your friends are assholes. Wait till you meet Kim, she's awesome," Jared said with this dreamy look in his eyes.

I just rolled my eyes at him. Yet again we were returning to the only topic he liked to talk about, the almighty Kim. I would be meeting her for the first time as well tomorrow. Yippy. Note the sarcasm.

I finished my plate of food. "I'm going to head home and make sure I have everything I need for tomorrow. See you guys later." I headed out the door, hearing a chorus of bye's from the others in the house. I really did need to make sure I had everything done and ready. Just because I sleep around a lot and act like an ass doesn't mean I need to be stupid. I actually have a 3.9 GPA. Stupid Math. I would have a 4.0 if it wasn't for the B that I'm getting in my College Algebra class.

I walked into my house and went into my room. Jared had been bringing me all my homework since I had been gone. I checked all my homework and made sure it was all done. I put all my books into my bag and put my bag by the door. I had to do patrol from 8pm till 3am. I decided I would take a nap until I had to leave. I set an alarm on my phone and flopped down on my bed. As soon as my face hit the pillow I was out cold.

The next thing I knew my alarm was going off. I rolled out of bed, took my shirt off, and headed out to patrol. I phased as soon as I hit the woods. I never thought that having my house right next to the forest would be so useful. Then again I never thought I would transform into an overgrown dog.

"You know you love it!" I heard Jared say in my head.

"Whatever you need to believe Jared. Get out of here. I'll seen you in the morning."

"Seen you then pal," Jared thought as he phased out.

It was rather peaceful running alone. I have never had any peace in my life. Between my suckish family life, stupid school, asshole friends. The list goes on. I ran my patrol until Sam phased in at 3. I ran home, said bye, and stumbled into my house. I went to sleep thinking about how much my life has changed just in the last week and a half and anticipating what school would be like.


	5. Chapter 5

**Ella May POV**

So, life kinda sucks sometimes. But, you do what you have to do and you get over it. It's not always easy. Heck it is rarely ever easy, but that's just the way it is. I've always had it pretty rough but Fate finally decided it had done enough to me. Fate decided to give me a blessing. I didn't always see it, or rather him, that way but it turned out amazing in the end. My blessing's name is Paul Lahote.

I'm Ella May and this is how I arrived at this point in my life.


	6. Chapter 6

**Ella May POV**

I've always hated school. Not because the work is particularly hard. I hate it mainly because of the people. I've never been the most social, outgoing person. I pretty much have no friends. I wouldn't really say its my fault though. I'm really quiet and some people think I don't talk to them because I'm stuck up. That really isn't the case. I just have a problem talking to new people. Being put into certain situations causes me a lot of anxiety. I can't help it. There fore I try to avoid those situations, such as talking to people I don't know.

It all started when I was in 5th grade. I didn't have any friends then either, but I did the best with what I had. I had been walking down the hallway, head down as always, and I accidentally walked into Mindy Snow, the meanest, and therefore most popular, girl in the school. Everyone tried to be on her good side. I just avoided her. Even in 5th grade she was one of the prettiest girls in the school. When I bumped into her, she looked at me, hit my books out of my hand, and walked away. Everyone in the hallway was laughing and pointing at me. I started to cry and ran into the bathroom. I didn't come out until the next passing period.

Ever since then school has been rough. I try to just keep my head down and ignore all the jerks and insecure people who feel they need to make fun of me to make themselves feel better. At least, that's what I try to tell myself. I don't have the most self-esteem, or really any at all, and it is hard some days. Then I have to go home, which is something I dread. I'm not sure which is worse: being at school or being at home. My mom ran off on my when I was little. She didn't want to have a husband and a baby. You see when she found out she was pregnant, my father, if you could call him that, insisted on marrying her. So that's what happened. What my dad wants, my dad gets. Good old Janet, my mother, decided she wanted to be more free. So she packed up and left. I was three at the time. I don't remember her very much and I don't particularly want to.

After that it was just me and Rick. That would be my father. He's doesn't really count as a father though. He certainly doesn't act like one. But I digress. That is a story for a different time. I started school when I was 5 and have disliked it ever since. I am now considered senior but I should be a junior. I am going to be 17 in three weeks. I don't have any friends so that leaves a lot of time to work on school stuff. I'm pretty sure no one knows about the fact that I am moved up but whatever. Like I said no one really talks to me, more about me. Mindy still torments me. Others do as well, but usually, if I am quiet enough, people just ignore me.

So I was walking down the hallway, head down as always, just trying not to draw attention to myself. As I went to turn the corner to go to my Spanish class, I seemed to hit a moving wall. I lay sprawled on the ground, having been knocked over. My books were all over the hallway. Everyone turned to stare as we all heard, "Watch where you are going bitch!" screamed through the hall. I glanced up to see Paul Lahote bent over gathering his books from off the ground. I started grabbing the books that were close to me. Paul began walking away without another word, and as I went to grab my last book, it was kick across the hallway.

I looked up to see Dex, Paul's right-hand man. "Next time, try to stay on your feet," he exclaimed loudly. He quickly followed after Paul as what seemed to be the entire student body start laughing. I looked down as my eyes started to water. I took a second to compose myself, determined not to let them make me cry. I got up and walked to where my book was kicked. I bent down and picked it up.

As I stood up, I came face to face with none other than Mindy. Wonderful.


	7. Chapter 7

**Warning: Abuse **

**Ella May POV**

_Why, oh why does the world hate me_, was the only thought going through my head. The hallways had cleared out so it was just me, Mindy, and two of her henchmen. Henchwomen? Whatever.

"Can't stay on your feet for two minutes can you dear?" Mindy sneered at me. Mindy is about 5'9" where as I am 5'1 1/2". At this point she was towering over me while the other two watched on, with those ugly sneers on their faces. I didn't respond to her. It usually just made things worse. "You know, you really should be more careful. One of these days you are going to get seriously hurt." With that she went to walk past me. As she strode by, her shoulder hit mine with enough force to send me to the floor yet again. Awesome.

Mindy and her groupies walked away as I picked up my things. Again. As I was walking to my class, I realized how late I was. The class only had 10 minutes left and then school was over. I decided to just not go. It is not like the teacher will notice I'm not there. I went back to my locker and grabbed all of my things and walked out of school. It was raining as I began walking home. Shocker.

It took me about 40 minutes to walk home. It was about 2 1/2 miles from the school to my house. As I stepped through the door, I took off my shoes and hung my jacket on the hook by the door. My house isn't exactly tiny but it certainly does not qualify as big. I walked up the stairs, went to my room, shut and locked the door. I changed out of my wet clothes.

My room doesn't have much in it. A bed, dresser, and desk. It is still painted the light yellow from when I was a baby. I sat down at my desk and pulled out my homework. I set an alarm on my phone so I knew when to start dinner. I was about halfway through my homework when the alarm went off. I ran downstairs and start the oven. I pulled out the hamburgers that I had prepared last night. I shoved them in the oven and prepared the rest of the meal.

I had just finished setting the table when I heard the door bang open. My father stormed into the kitchen to see that everything was set.

"You stupid bitch! I didn't want hamburgers tonight!" he screamed at me. I cowered off to the side not wanting to get hit too hard. I think he had a bad day and just needed someone to take his anger out on. He stormed over to the kitchen table and sat down. I quietly sneak out of the room, deciding I just wouldn't eat tonight.

I walked back up to my room and go to finish my homework. About twenty minutes and one math assignment later, I heard, "Get your ass down here you stupid whore." I got up and slowly walked down the stairs. As I turned the corner to go into the kitchen, I felt my head snap to the side as I am slapped across the face. Guess I would be using make-up tomorrow. I get pushed to the ground and then the man who is supposed to be my father begins kicking my in the stomach.

When he started to get winded, he bent down and screamed in my face, "Go clean up in the kitchen!"

He walked away as I laid on the ground getting my breath back. I slowly stood up and brushed myself off. I checked to make sure I don't have on tears on my face, even though I knew there wouldn't be any. I have learned not to cry. Plus, I have gone through significantly more pain than that.

I walked into the kitchen and began cleaning up. I did the dishes, wiped down the table, and put everything away. It all needed to be done before he came back. I snuck back upstairs and laid down. My body was so sore I didn't want to move.

I stayed in my room the rest of the night to avoid the man downstairs. My father has always resented me. I was the reason he was stuck with my mother as well as the reason he had to stay here. I tried to stay out of his way as much as possible. He could pretty much find any reason to hit, kick, or beat me. I had to have dinner on the table on time or I was hit. Clean or be kicked. Talk back and I couldn't move the next day.

I think it all started when I was about 8. I left a toy on the ground and he stepped on it. He called me into the living room and told me I was the reason he was hurt. He then smacked me across the face saying that made it even. It has escalated from that. I stay out of the house as much as possible and if I am home when he is I go to my room and lock the door, especially when he comes home drunk, or when he gets drunk at all really. I wish it was different, easier, but it's not. So, I deal with it.

I fell asleep that night wondering if my life was ever going to change.

**Please leave any comments, suggestions, or whatever in a review or PM. If you have any preference to which POV is better please let me know. Personally I like writing Paul better but let me know what you think!**

**K thanks : )**


	8. Chapter 8

**I would just like to say thank you to the two people who reviewed! You made me smile: )**

**Ella May POV**

The past few weeks had sucked. While there was the positive factor of not having to deal with Paul Lahote, I still had to deal with everyone else in the school. Mindy had continued to be the witch she usually was. Not only that, but ever since the incident with Paul, everyone had decided to start noticing me and harassing me. It seemed like there was a sign on my back that said pick on me. Well there was that sign that someone stuck to me that said "Kick Me!" So there was that...

I had been book dropped so many times, I could not keep track anymore. I had resorted to eating in the library because of all the food that had been dumped on me. Not only did I have to deal with the people at school, but home wasn't too peachy either. My wrist and ribs were killing me. Three nights ago,_ Rick_ decided it would be a good idea to push my down the stairs. I knew for a fact that the ribs were just bruised, but I was getting pretty concerned about my wrist. It had been fairly swollen over the past two days. It was Monday today, and I was thinking I would need to go to the hospital if it didn't get any better.

I had just walked into class and sat down when I over heard some of the guys in the back talking.

"Man have you seen Paul? I saw him walking out of the forest yesterday. He is huge!"

"Ya I saw him with Sam Uley on the beach the other day. I went up to him to see when he was coming back and he said he would be back when he was back and walked off shaking..."

"I heard from my mom that he is coming back tomorrow."

At that point I decided to stop listening to the three guys. I was too busy contemplating how much harder my life was going to get tomorrow. While most of the students usually ignored me, Paul had always found some way to cut me down. I don't think he ever realized it though. He never went out of his way but it still happened somehow.

The teacher walked in and said that we were going to be working on our next project in groups. Everyone started pairing up. I, of course, did not have anyone to work with. "Ella, why don't you join Mindy and Kelsey's group." She said it more of a statement not really giving me a choice. I picked up my books and walked over to the girls. Curse you Mrs. Snow, curse you.

"Great! Here are our names, get to work," Mindy said as she handed me a sheet of paper with their names on it. If this meant that I didn't have to deal with all of their crap, I would gladly do the whole thing. Which looked like what was going to happen.

I started reading the directions and realized we were just writing a paper. With all of the time I spent not socializing with other people, I perfected the art of writing a good paper in 45 min. I started writing and the next thing I knew the bell was ringing. I put all of our names on the paper and dropped it on the Mrs. Snow's desk. I walked out of class and went to my locker. Every conversation I heard was about how Paul was coming back the next day. I was just glad that I wasn't the center of attention.

The day was actually going pretty good. That is, until I walked into the locker room to get changed for gym. Mindy and Kelsey were standing in there whispering as I stepped through the door. I tried to go in unnoticed. I slipped past them and walked to my locker. I pulled out my PE clothes and went into a bathroom stall to change. I couldn't change out in the open because of all the marks on my body from my father. I had a nasty bruise on my side from my "trip" down the stairs.

I walked back out and over to my locker and noticed it was open. I ran over to see if all of my stuff was in there. As I was looking through everything I heard, "Looking for this?"

I turned around to see Mindy holding a wad of cash in her hands. She spun around and walked away. I ran after her ut she was already out the door. I knew I was never getting that money back. Even if I told a teacher there was no proof that it was mine or that she stole it. I wasn't quite sure what to do. There was about $50 there and it was all the money I had for food. I kept an emergence fund in my room but I didn't want to use it. At this point I didn't really have a choice. There was no food in the house and I now had no other money. I would have to wait for tomorrow to buy food. I didn't know what I was going to do tonight for dinner for my father or myself. Hopefully he would stay out late and I would be in bed before he came home or he just wouldn't come home at all tonight.

Dejectedly, I walked out into the gym. Everybody was running laps so I just joined in. The teacher didn't even notice. After gym was done I only had two periods left. Math and Psychology. I suffered through them and began my treck home. I went up to my room and started my homework. A few hours later I heard the door slam shut downstairs. I quickly went to my bed and laid down. I pretended to be asleep just as my father barged into my room. I heard him mutter a few curses and stomp back out. At that point I was hungry and tired. I decided I as might as well just go to sleep so that is what I did.

As I lay there, all I could think about was how terrible tomorrow was going to be.


	9. Chapter 9

**Paul POV**

Fucking school. More like fucking students. As I got of my truck this morning, it seemed like everyone just stopped what they were doing, or saying, and looked at me. I mean I know I was gone for a while, but that doesn't give every person in this school an excuse to stare at me. It is just fucking rude.

As I was walking up to the school, I hear someone come up behind me. "Fuck off," I said. I wasn't in the mood to deal with everyone and all their bullshit.

"Ummm..." is all I hear. I look to the side and then down because nobody is really the same level as me anymore. Shit. The person walking next to me is none other that Kim Cromwell. Jared's keeper.

"Hey Kim... Didn't realize it was you." And that is all it takes for her to be okay. Kim actually isn't that bad. She is not an annoying slut like the rest of the girls at the school.

"Hi Paul," she responds. At that point Jared walked up to her. He quickly kissed her on the top of the head. Kim started blushing and Jared just smiled. The were sickeningly cute.

"Hey man! How you doing so far?" he asked. I just looked at him blankly, mentally asking if he was an idiot. I quickly came to the conclusion that he is. At this point we had made it inside the school. Of course it was raining, so we were all soaked through. Jared and I would be dry in about 20 minutes with how warm we are. Kim was in a jacket so she was good. We separated ways at this point to go to our lockers and then to class. I unfortunately had to go to the office because I had missed classes so much. I had to turn in all the work and a note saying I was excused. I had everything except for my math done. Like I have said before, I maybe an ass but I wasn't an idiot. Math was the only subject I had a problem with. I was not getting that shit at all.

I walked into the office to see Mindy there getting yelled at by our school principal for the skirt she was wearing. I'm not really sure it could be classified as a skirt though. It was more like a scrap of material wrapped around her butt. I barely covered the necessary parts. I just rolled my eyes at her whiny voice. What a whore.

"Good morning . Nice to see you back in school!" Ms. Smith, the school secretary said. I looked at her to see her pretty much fucking me with her eyes. This right here is the reason I had no respect for women.

"Morning. I was told I had to hand everything in here," I replied as I put all my work on her desk.

I walked back out before she could respond. I walked to my first class and, as soon as I walked through the door, everyone stopped talking. I went and sat down in the back of the room and ignored everyone. One minute later some girl walked through the door, well more tripped through the door. She looked kinda familiar. Everyone laughed as she walked to her desk. At that point our teacher walked in and I stopped paying attention.

Everything was going fine until lunch. I walked into the cafeteria and went to get food. I pretty much just pilled a bunch of food onto my tray and paid for it. As I was walking to the table that Jared and Kim were sitting at, someone stepped in front of me. I stopped to ask them what the fuck their problem was until I say it was Dex. He looked pissed.

"What the hell man? You disappear for almost 2 weeks and then just ignore me when you come back?" He asked rather loudly. I wasn't sure what to say. I knew I was being an ass but what could I say?

"I don't know what to tell you man. I found new people to hang with." With that I walked around him and went to sit at our table. I knew this wouldn't be the end of it. Dex is one to hold grudges. I just wasn't sure when he would try to get back at me. I ate lunch and decided to leave a little early to go to my locker. I wanted to get to math early so my teacher could tell me what an idiot I was while we were alone, rather than in front of everyone.

As I walked into the classroom I saw the teacher and then one other student. It was the girl that had tripped into my first period class. I walked up the Mr. Mickilic's desk. He looked up at me and frowned.

"Hello Paul. I'm glad to see you are back. I'm also glad you got here early. I took a look at your work you dropped off in the office this morning. It seemed like you were having some trouble with the material," he said. I figured he was going to say something I wasn't going to like. "I know you have been out, but the rest of the class is still moving on. I would like for you to get some extra help so you could be on the same level as everyone else."Ms. Henderson is very competent in what we are working on right now." He looked behind me and started talking to the girl. We were still the only three in the room. "Ella would you be willing to skip class today to help Paul with the stuff he has missed while he was gone? I know you are already done with tonight's homework so you wont be missing anything you don't know."

"Sure," she said in a tiny voice. Now I knew who she was. Ella May, the girl I knocked over the day before I first phased. No wonder she looked terrified. She probably didn't even understand the information. Even if she did, I wouldn't be able to hear her while she was trying to explain.

"Alright well you two go ahead next-door and get started," Mr. Mickilic said. Ella walked back to the desk she was at before and grabbed her stuff. I walked out of the room and went to the room next-door. I sat down and started pulling out all of my math stuff.

I looked up to see Ella walking through the door. Her head was down and I could tell that her hands were shaking. I could almost smell the fear coming off of her. I felt kinda bad I was making her this nervous. She walked over and sat down next to me. She started pulling out her books. As she went to lift her textbook out of her bag, she gasped in pain and dropped it. She grabbed her wrist and made a whimpering sound. I bent down, grabbed the book off the ground, and set it on the desk in front of her. Ella whispered out a thank you.

"Look I can tell you don't want to be here. I don't particularly want to be here either. Let's just get this done and over with and be done with it," I said. I could tell it came out harsher than I wanted it to when Ella flinched.

"Okay. Well how far do we need to go back? I'm not sure what need help with."

"I started getting confused after lesson 6.2. So we have a lot to cover," I said as I opened up to the section I needed help with.

Ella leaned over and started looking at all of my notes and work. She grabbed a stack of papers from her stuff and started going through them. I looked over and realized it was the stack of homework that Mr. Mickilic had graded. She grabbed a pack of sticky notes from her bag, wrote something on one, grabbed a couple of my homework pages, and stuck the note to it. I looked at it and saw that it said "Finished".

She then grabbed another page off of the stack and set it down in front of me. "Your notes all look good for this section, but the application is wrong," she explained. She then went on to show me everything that I did wrong and explain what needed to be fixed. We got through about 4 days work in one class period.

Mr. Mickilic came in about 5 min before class ended. "Ella thank you so much for doing this. Did you have any questions about what we were doing today? I looked at your homework and everything was correct."

"No, sir," Ella replied very quietly. I don't think the girl liked to look up. She hadn't once since we started.

Mr. Mickilic simply nodded his head, smiling down at her. He walked out of the room.

"Hey Ella, thanks for doing this today," I said as nicely as I could. The bell rang just as I finished speaking. Ella simply nodded her head and practically ran out of the room.

I sighed, wondering what I could do so that she wouldn't be so terrified of me. Normally I wouldn't care, but with the way I struggled with math, I was wanting to make this a regular thing. I was surprised with how well the girl could teach. I got everything after she explained where I was going wrong with everything. She probably explained everything better than Mickilic would have. Don't get me wrong he wasn't a bad guy, I just didn't understand the subject he taught.

I walked out of the room and went to my next class. The whole period I was just trying to figure out how I could get Ella May to not be terrified of me. The teacher I had was a dumbass and didn't say anything of importance, so I just zoned out the whole time.

After school I avoided Jared. I just wanted to go home, drop my shit off, and go on patrol. I needed to phase to relieve some of the stress. I walked out of the house and headed into the forest. I stripped off my shorts, tied them to my leg, and phased.

"Nothing new Paul," Sam head talked to me. He phased out just as I started running.

Today wasn't as terrible as I thought it would be. I ran patrols until Jared phase. I ran home and fell asleep wondering what the next day would bring.


	10. Chapter 10

**Warning: Abuse**

**Ella May POV**

I ran out of the room, urgent to get out of the tense atmosphere. I'm not quite sure which would be worse. Going to gym after what happened yesterday or staying in the classroom with Paul. I was terrified most of the time I had to spend with him. I also got the feeling that I would be doing this for a while.

I dropped off my books in my locker and started towards the gym. I walked into the locker room just to see Mindy leaving to go into the gym with her little cult of followers. I quickly grabbed my clothes and went to change. I walked out into the gym to see that we were playing soccer. Good. A sport that I can avoid any and all participation.

I stayed out of the way for almost the entire game. The ball hit me in the head near the end of class and our teacher let me leave early.

I quickly changed out of my gym clothes and went to grab my stuff from my locker. I had to go to the grocery store, which was about a two mile walk and then about 3 miles to get home. I pulled on my jacket and left the school. I started walking down the road. It was raining pretty hard and I knew I was going to end up getting sick. My luck was not very good. As I hit the half way spot, a car drove past me and splashed a ton of muddy water on me. So not only was I soaking wet, I was muddy.

I finally got to the store and practically ran inside. Way to make an entrance I thought to my self as everyone in the store seemed to look my way. I quickly went about my business and gathered everything I needed. I grabbed a box of tissues and stuff to make soup, knowing I would need it tomorrow. I always had to be careful about how much I bought because I had to carry it all home. I went to the cashier and handed over the precious money from my savings. I had gotten it last night knowing I would not be able to get any more from good ole Rick.

I walked out of the store and started on my way home. It took longer to get home because about 10 minutes into walk I could no longer feel my feet. I stumbled into the house and walked into the kitchen. I set everything down on the counter and turned around to go take off my jacket and shoes. I also wanted to change out of my wet clothes. As I turned I felt my head snap to the side. I gasped in pain and looked back in front of me to see daddy dearest standing there fuming. I started backing up, not wanting to be so close to him when he was that angry.

"Why the hell is my diner not ready?! We you out being a little tramp? Sleeping around like a whore, just like your mother?!"

I didn't respond, just kept backing away from him. I eventually ran into the counter with no where left to go. He grabbed me and threw me to the ground. I landed on the wrist that was already hurting. I heard it snap under my weight. I curled up into a ball as he began kicking me. At some point I blacked out. I woke up to an empty house. He must have gone out to drink a little more of his life and money away.

I didn't feel like making anything to eat and decided to just go to bed. I quickly put away the groceries. I needed to shower because I was still dirty from the walk home. My wrist was definitely broken at this point. I couldn't use it at all. I knew I should go to the doctor tonight but I decided to just wait until tomorrow. I rolled into bed after cleaning up and brushing my teeth. I quickly fell asleep anticipating my long walk to the hospital tomorrow.

I woke up early the next morning with a stuffy nose and sore throat. I got dressed and ready for the day. I couldn't hear anything down stairs or in the room next door and knew Rick either wasn't home or wasn't awake. I went down stairs and grabbed a granola bar for breakfast. Getting ready took longer than normal because I couldn't use my one arm at all.

Before I left the house, I called the school to let them know I wouldn't be in today. I grabbed some tissues and started my walk. Forks General Hospital was significantly farther away than the rez doctor but they also knew nothing about me and had better facilities to treat me with. I knew it would be a bit more expensive so I took all the money I had saved up. We had health insurance but it wasn't very good.

After a good two hours of walking, I finally made it to the hospital. I couldn't complain to much; it wasn't raining outside so other then sweat, I was dry. I walked to the front desk and told the nurse what was wrong. She handed me a clip-board with paper work and I sat down to fill them out.

After about 20 minutes I was called to go into the examination room. I was careful not to wince when I stood up. My sides were hurting from being kicked but I knew nothing else was broken. I walked into the room after the nurse and she did all the necessary nurse stuff, blood pressure, height, weight, excreta. She left saying the doctor would be in soon.

A man came in a few minutes later. As he looked up I realized how attractive he was. He had blond hair and caramel colored eyes.

"Hello, Miss Henderson. I'm Dr. Cullen. Let's have a look at that wrist shall we?" He said as he sat on rolling stool. He rolled over to me and gently took my wrist into his hands. I couldn't tell if I was really hot or if it was him, but his hands were freezing. Dr. Cullen touched my wrist and I flinched. "I'm sorry, but your wrist is definitely broken. Can you tell me how this happened and when," he requested.

"I tripped last night when I got home and landed on it the wrong way. I was late so I just decided to wait to come in," I responded smoothly.

He seemed to accept the answer easily enough. "Alright, well let's get an x-ray to see exactly where it is broken and if we need to readjust anything."

We walked to a different room and took the x-ray. Dr. Cullen told me to head on back and he would grab everything he needed to cast my arm. He asked what color I wanted it to be and I told him blue. I walked back to the examination room and sat waiting patiently. Dr. Cullen walked back in with the x-ray. I could tell by his face that the break was bad.

"Ella, do you mind if I call you that?" he asked. I shook my head no. "The break in your wrist is pretty bad," he said as he was putting the x-ray on the board with the light so we could see it. "If you look very carefully there are actually two different breaks. You will need to have it casted for about 4 months. In a month I would like for you to come back so we can check your progress."

I nodded my head, showing that I understood. He quickly casted my wrist and explained to me that if it got wet, it would be okay but it may begin to smell or itch. "I will see you in one week okay, Ella?"

"Okay Doc." With that I walked out the door and went to the front desk to pay. Surprisingly, it didn't take all of my money to pay for the visit. I still wasn't feeling good and was starting to cough. I walked, made some soup for myself, and decided to go to bed, hoping Rick wouldn't disturb me. I fell asleep but woke up every hour, sneezing and coughing. When Thursday morning rolled around, called the school again, telling them I wouldn't be in again. I got back in bed and quickly fell back asleep.

**AN: Please feel free to leave a review. In regards to the review saying I needed to update more, I am a college student and have a ton of homework. I do have to say that I feel more inspired to write when I see reviews. You don't always have to leave something positive, I am a firm believer in constructive criticism, but please don't be mean or demanding. **


	11. Chapter 11

**Paul POV**

When you don't understand something in school, they always suggest to get help. Well, when the person you are getting help from is a stupid whore it doesn't really do much. Ella May wasn't at school yesterday. I thought I would be getting help from her but apparently not. I mean I could tell she was freaked out, but I didn't think it was that bad. Whatever, if she didn't want to help me that was fine. The problem was that the girl who Mr. Mickilic asked to fill in was Ashley Lewis. We had gotten together a couple times, but the girl was crazy. The day after the last time we were together, she told everyone at school we were a thing. Wrong! So rather than helping me at all, she flirted with me non-stop.

I decided that if Mickilic asked her again I would just tell him I was good. I would rather figure it out on my own than deal with the crazy bitch. I left Jared in the hallway by Kim's locker. I didn't want to see all that. I made my way down the hall and around the corner. I knew I would b early, but that was better than he alternative. I walked into class to see Mickilic talking to some girl. As I looked closer and actually listened to the people. Ella was standing in front of Mickilic, while he sat there looking at something on his desk.

"Ella this is perfect. I'm glad that you understand all of this so well. I was concerned with you missing class so much in the upcoming week that you would fall behind, but I can see you will be just fine," he said with a bit of a smile. He looked up to see me standing there, listening. "Well now that Mr. Lahote is here you two can head over to the room next door."

I grabbed all my stuff off the desk I had set it down on and looked to see if she was coming. She was grabbing everything that she had and as she turned, I saw something blue on here arm. She was wearing a tight black long sleeved t-shirt and jeans with some tennis shoes. The blue was on her hand and the sleeve of her shirt looked bulky. As she was walking toward me I realized her wrist was in a cast.

I cant explain why I did what I did next, but I grabbed her books right out of her hands, turned, and walked out of the room and into the one next-door. I heard her follow behind me as I walked over to the desks. I set her stuff down on a desk and sat in the one next to it. I pulled my chair right up next to the one with her books on it. She slowly walked over to her stuff and sat down.

"So, why weren't you here yesterday?" I didn't mean to, but I let a bit of accusation into my tone. Ella seemed to flinch back a bit when I said it. I looked at her curiously. She seemed to do that a lot.

"I-I-I was sick... And I had to go to the doctors," she replied so quietly that if I was a normal human there was no way I would have heard her. She started to cough fairly badly.

She soon stopped and started to gather her books so we could start. "What happened to your wrist?" I asked as nicely as I could

"I fell," was the response she gave. "Do you have all of your papers? How far did you get yesterday?" she asked.

"Ya I have all the papers. Here you go. We didn't really get anything done yesterday. Ashley doesn't really know what she's doing."

Ella started looking through the papers and then started separating them into different piles. She put a stack in front of me and we didn't talk, think, or breath anything but math for the next half hour.

"We should stop here. That way we are not right in the middle of something and have to stop," Ella suggested, wringing her hands the whole time she talked.

"Okay sounds good to me. I think that if I do any more math my head will explode all over this entire classroom." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something I don't think I have ever seen before. Ella May smiled this tiny little smile while she was sitting there listening to me complain. She not only smiled, but she let out little giggle on top of it. She quickly hid her face behind her hair so I couldn't see what she was doing now.

Just then the door to the classroom opened up.

"Hey Paulie," I heard the voice of annoying little Ashley say.

"Ashley," I replied shortly. I actually wasn't hating my life while I spent time with Ella, and the little bitch has to come in and interrupt.

"Why don't you leave the freak show and come hang out with me? I'm sure it would be a lot more fun," she said in what she must have thought of as a seductive voice. The whole time she was talking I was just watching Ella May. And then, for the first time since I had hung out with her, Ella May look up and right into my eyes.

And that was when my whole world stopped and started spinning the other way.


	12. Chapter 12

**Thank you so much for the positive feed back! I wrote this so quickly for my new best friend Jacobslover2014, as well as GirlOnFire13579 and fangirl31 :)**

**Paul POV**

As I looked into her eyes, my life seemed to gain purpose. I was no longer living to screw around and go to school and protect the tribe. I was on this earth to protect this tiny slip of a girl. I knew I was screwed right then and there. What Sam said finally made sense. This girl, my imprint, my Ella, was now my world. I lived and breathed for her. I just wanted take her in my arms and keep her there so that I could protect and love her for the rest of our lives.

On the other hand I knew that probably would not be a very good idea. She was already terrified of being around me. I didn't need to make matters worse. When I thought about the fact that Ella was terrified of even being close to me, my chest started to hurt. I would need to remedy that problem very soon.

I was surprised I wasn't angry about this whole situation. About 5 minutes ago the idea of imprinting was about the worst thing that I could think of. Now it seemed like a gift in the crappy situation I was stuck in. It also probably helped that I was kinda starting to enjoy the time I spent with Ella. Granted it had only been about 1 and a half hours, but the fact that I could actually tolerate her after that time period is saying a lot.

At the moment I was simply staring at her face trying to memorize every detail. Not only of her appearance but also her scent; she smelt just like pure vanilla. She was no longer looking at me and I wanted to fix that. I raised my hand to tilt her chin up, but ,yet again, she flinched away from me. A sharp pain struck my heart. The fact that my imprint was afraid I would hit her hurt. A lot. Suddenly I heard a throat being cleared. I turned to glare at the intrusion. I saw Ashley standing there trying to get me to come with her.

"Not interested. You can leave now." The look on her face was a mix between pissed off and disbelief.

"Why would you want to hang out with this little bitch when you could be with me?"

"DON'T say that about her!" I suddenly experienced, second-hand, the feeling of terror. I wasn't sure what was happening until I realized the feeling was coming from my imprint. I quickly changed my face and tone. "Leave. I already told you, not interested."

Ashley flipped her hair over her shoulder and stomped out of the room. I slowly turned to face my imprint. While she didn't look terrified, she certainly felt it. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled, but I don't want her saying those things about you."

Ella just looked up at me with eyes the size of saucers. "O-o-okay," was the only reply.

I scratched the back of my head and looked over at the clock. One minute until class ended. I didn't want to leave her yet. I had just found her. "What class do you have next? Can I walk you there?" I quickly asked.

She looked at me skeptically and then let out a quiet, "Gym, and sure."

I quickly grabbed her books and went to open the door for her. The bell rang just then. As we started down the hallway, I wanted to grab her hand, or put my arm around her, something! I knew I would need a good reason to do so. Just then I was presented with the opportunity. As we were walking, some jackass bumped into her. I quickly went to steady her. I started shaking and turned to beat the crap out of the guy. I felt a tiny little hand rest on my back. I turned to see Ella there with what looked like a pleading look in her eyes. I quickly thought about it and decided I should do what she wants so she would like me.

I started walking but this time with a hand placed on her lower back to make sure she wasn't rattled again. She started out completely stiff, but then she started to relax. I smiled knowing I was making progress. I walked her right up to the door of the gym locker rooms, not wanting to let her go.

"Well I guess I will see you tomorrow?" I said it as more of a question. She looked up and nodded, shyly. I gave her all of her books and watched her go into the locker rooms. I turned around and walked to study hall. I wasn't in the mood to talk or do any work so I just laid my head down on my desk. About ten minutes later I heard the door open and the class go silent. I smelled the most amazing smell, vanilla. My head shot up off my desk as I looked to see that my Ella had just walked into the classroom.

I listened as she explained that she had been moved into the class. The teacher didn't even look at her while she was talking. I started growling, to quietly for anyone to hear. How rude! I suddenly stopped when I heard him say that she would be sitting next to me. I straightened up and sat back in my chair, wanting to look relaxed but happy to see her.

Ella slowly looked around the room and soon found me sitting all the way in the back in the center. I smiled at her hoping to show how happy I was. She quickly looked down and started walking toward me. When she was finally sitting down the rest of the class started to talk again.

"Hey," I said. She looked up at me with a surprised look on her face. "What?" I asked. I wasn't quite sure what she was so surprised about.

"Hi," was the quiet response. She soon returned to looking down at her desk.

"So, how come you got moved to this class?"

She looked at me hesitantly, trying to decide if she wanted to talk to me. "I can't participate in gym with a broken wrist."

"Oh. True. So they just put you in here?" I asked. She just nodded her head saying yes. We lapsed into silence. I wasn't sure what to say. I had never done the whole getting to know you thing before. An idea then started to form in my head. If I couldn't make conversation, I might as well get some homework done. Really, all I wanted was for her to talk to me. "Hey, would you mind helping me some more with the math stuff?"

At that she gave a little smile. Probably about the fact that I referred to the useless combination of numbers as "math stuff".

"Sure."

I quickly grabbed all of the homework and everything we used and set it all down in front of her. She sorted through every thing, and soon we were engulfed in the wonderful world of math.

Much to quickly, the period was coming to an end. I usually would be sprinting out the door, but as the bell rang, I lingered behind, trying think of some way for Ella and I to have more time together. "Can I walk you to your locker, Ella?"

Again, the only response I got was a surprised, shy look. She then replied, "Okay."

I grabbed all of her stuff off of her desk and waited for her to go ahead of me. She looked unsure, so I tried to look as unintimidating as possible. She slowly started to walk in front of me. When we got out into the hallway, I again put my hand on her back. I walked her to her locker which was actually just down the hall from mine.

"So, see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, great!" At this point, Ella had her jacket on with her backpack. She then turned around and walked away. I slowly walked down the hall to my locker where I saw Jared and Kim waiting for me.

"Dude, what was that? Or rather, who was that?" Jared asked in that annoying voice of his.

"That would be my imprint," I stated proudly.

Jared's mouth dropped open. He stood there gaping at me like I had just told him WWIII had broken out.

"Congratulations Paul," Kim said.

"Thanks Kim. I gotta run. Sam is expecting me." With that I turned and walked away.

I ran out to my car because, as usual, it was pouring buckets. I quickly drove home and put my stuff in the house. Once in the forest I phased.

"Who's that?" Sam asked as he saw images of Ella going through my mind.

"I imprinted," I replied. Sam seemed to stop in his tracks, wherever he was.

"No way."

"Yup. Her name is Ella May."

"Congratulations Paul. Don't mess this up." With that last thought he phased out.

I ran my patrols and then headed home when Jared phased in. The only thing going through my head that night was how I needed to find a way to get my imprint to like me. Or at the very least, not be terrified of me.


	13. Chapter 13

**Ella May POV**

Let me start out with, no one ever talks to me unless it is to be cruel, rude, or hateful. So the fact that I had a few conversations today in which none of those things happened, was quite a surprise to me. As I walked out into the rain, I wondered what the heck had gotten into Paul today. At no point in the history of my life had I ever heard a nice word come out of his mouth. Then today he was carrying my books and acting all concerned.

I was very confused as to what his motive was. On top of all that weirdness, I felt horrible the whole day. My nose was stuff and my throat hurt. It didn't help that I was now walking home in the rain. After about 5 minutes of walking I was soaked through. I knew this just meant I would feel worse tomorrow. I know that the doctor said my cast was okay to get wet but at the same time I didn't want it to start to itch and smell. I was glad I had thought ahead and brought an extra t-shirt to wrap around it.

I soon arrived at home soaked and miserable. I quickly went upstairs and prepared everything for starting my homework. I went downstairs and started my _father's_ dinner. I made sure it was simple so that I wouldn't need to do much. I decided on a casserole. I put it in the over and staggered up stairs. I was exhausted at this point. I went to my desk and started my homework. After awhile I head the timer on the oven going off. I set the table and dished out Rick's plate.

I had finished my homework at this point so I just decided to go to bed. I stumbled back to my room. As soon as I shut my door, I heard the front one slam open. _He's home_. I knew I wouldn't be able to get into bed quick enough so I went and sat at my desk pretending to do stuff. He quickly came up the stairs and slammed my door open as well. I turned around in my chair and faced him without actually looking at him.

"Is my dinner ready?" he sneered at me.

"Yes," I replied in barely a whisper.

"Good. It had better be or we are going to have a problem," is all he said back. He turned around and stomped back down the stairs. I quickly got up and shut the door. I packed up my back pack and changed into pajamas. I climbed into bed and laid down. I fell asleep and the next thing I knew my alarm was blaring.

I got up and turned the aggravating noise off. I felt kinda like I had gotten hit by a bus, and then the driver put it in reverse and ran back over me. My head was pounding and my nose was stuffy and my throat felt as though a thousand fire ants were crawling around in there. I started to cough and I couldn't stop. I stumbled off to the bathroom and got a drink of water. I looked in the mirror to see that I actually looked worse than I felt. And that was saying a lot.

I couldn't decide if I wanted to go to school or not. I had already missed one day this week and decided I couldn't miss another. I resignedly walked back to my room and got ready. I grabbed my backpack and went downstairs. I snuck past the living room and into the kitchen, not wanting to wake up Rick who apparently slept on the Lazy-z-Boy. I walked into the kitchen and grabbed a granola bar and quickly consumed it. I slipped on my jacket and my shoes and trudged off into the rain, yet again. The whole time I was walking to school, I was trying to figure out if my day would be as odd as the last. When I finally arrived at school I was practically running to get into the school.

At this point I could tell I had a fever. I was out of breath and my nose was running down my face. I quickly walked into the bathroom to try and salvage my self as much as possible. I wiped my face off and took off my jacket. I unwrapped the t-shirt I had tied around my cast and shoved it into my bag. I left the bathroom and went to my locker. Once all of my books were in my locker and I had everything that I needed for my first period class. I shut the door and walked off to class. I arrived about 2 minutes before the bell and almost the whole entire class was there. The only open seats were in the back so that is where I headed. Sitting down as fast as possible, I took a breath to calm myself down. I looked at every thing on my desk and started to organize it just the way I liked. My fingers were shaking because I was still so cold. Picking up the pencils became a very difficult task. My clothes were still soaking wet so there was not much I could do to warm up.

At that point the teacher walked in and started class. This one was history. As I listen I realized that what I was hearing was a partner project that he was assigning. I listen and waited for him to call my name to see who would be my partner. I was hoping it would be someone who wasn't totally evil. When he finally did read off my name, I was surprised when I felt relief flood through me at the name of my partner.

"Miss Henderson, you will be working with Mr. Lahote."

This would be interesting.


	14. Chapter 14

**Paul POV**

Mr. Landers had just become my favorite teacher.

As he finished assigning partner pairs, I gathered all of my things and walked over toward Ella. As I was looking at her I realized that she was soaking wet. Obviously I noticed her walk in right before the bell, but I hadn't realized she was practically dripping water. In no time at all I was over to her, pulling up a desk so I could sit by her. "Hey, Ella."

Shyly, she glanced up at me and then back down again. "Hi," was whispered back to me in a scratchy voice.

"So, where do you want to start?"

"Picking a topic?" she seemed to ask. I wasn't sure if she was trying to be nice or if she was still terrified of me. If I had to guess, I would go with the latter rather than the former. I wished she wasn't so scared. I needed to fix that.

"Good idea," I replied with a little grin, trying to show I meant no harm. "Got any ideas?" Our assignment was to create a project of any kind showing our thorough understanding of any topic pertaining to the Cold War.

Ella looked up at me a little unsure. I just smiled down at her trying to show I would never hurt her. I realized my height was probably a little intimidating to her, so I slid down in my chair so that I was towering over her a little less.

"We could do the Cuban Missile Crisis?" She asked still in a scratchy whisper, but she was occasionally glancing up at me. Progress.

"Sure that sounds interesting. What format were you thinking?" I asked, wanting to make her feel comfortable and less stressed out.

"Well we don't have to present it so do you just want me to write a paper, and we can hand that in?" she asked sounding resigned to the fact that she would be doing this on her own. Think again angle.

"No. I want to help out. You shouldn't have to do all the work, even if you are the smart one in this group," I said with a little smile. Ella just looked at me shocked that I would say something like that and surprised she wasn't going to be doing this project alone.

"Okay," she said in a small voice. At that moment I saw Ella shiver. I realized she must be freezing, sitting here soaking wet. I started to become more concerned as I noticed more signs of sickness. She looked like she hadn't been sleeping, she would cough and sneeze occasionally, and her tiny, bright red nose was running and she kept having to wipe it. She looked absolutely miserable and I had to fix it.

"I'll be right back, okay Ell?"

She seemed surprised by the nick name, but nodded her head that she understood. I went up to Mr. Landers' desk. "Mr. Landers, can I go to my locker to grab a sweatshirt?"

"Sure Paul."

I walked out of the room and practically ran to my locker. I wanted to make everything okay for Ella. She was wet, cold, and miserable. AKA not okay. I HAD to fix it. I still had a sweatshirt in my locker from before I phased. I obviously didn't need it now with my 108 degree temperature, but kept it in there to keep up appearances.

I quickly opened the locker, grabbed the sweatshirt, and went back to the classroom. I walked in to see Ella leaning over her book, quickly reading and jotting down information in her notebook. I slowly walked over to her, not wanting to startle her.

"Here," I said as I tried to hand her the sweatshirt. She just looked at it and then up at me with a questioning look on her pretty little face. "Put it on," I told her.

"Why?"

"Because you look cold, sick, and miserable." As I said this I realized I sounded like the asshole I was. "I just thought you might feel better if you were warmer," I quickly amended as she looked like she was about to cry.

"But I don't want to get you sick," she stated very quietly, punctuating her statement with a sneeze as though trying to prove her point.

It made me want to kiss her when I realized she was worried about me. Obviously I refrained, not wanting to scare her, or have the police called on me for harassment. I chuckled at that and smiled down at her. "Don't worry, I don't get sick. Please," I said as I tried handing it to her again. This time she took the sweatshirt and pulled it over her head and on. It was huge on her, but she instantly looked warmer.

"Thank you."

"No problem." With that we got down to work, finding information to put into our paper. We were so busy we didn't realize that class was over until the bell rang. We both started to gather all our materials and put them into our bags. I finished first and patiently waited for her to be done. Once she zipped up her backpack, she went to lift it onto her shoulder. As she had it in the air, about to swing it onto her back, I grabbed it and put it onto my shoulder. She looked up at me stunned.

I looked down at her with a sheepish, little grin. "Mind if I walk you to class?" I asked, unsure if she would want me to. I was practically begging her with my eyes to say yes.

"Sure," she said somewhat apprehensively.

With that I put my hand on her lower back and led her out of the classroom. Ella led the way to her next class, while I was just content with being allowed to be in contact with my imprint.

When we got to her next class she turned around and looked at me apprehensively. I simply took her bag off my back and handed it to her. She seemed to relax a bit as I was handing it over. Was she worried I would just take it?

"I'll see you later, okay?" I asked. Her response was a nod of her head, and with that, she turned around and left me standing there. I turned and walked off to my next class, in which I had to deal with Jared. Just because I was nice to Ella and happy to be around her does not mean that I had turned into a nice little girl that was happy all the time.

I walked into the class and went to the lab table Jared and I shared. The class was a joke. Pretty much if you showed up and looked like you were doing something, you could pass. I plopped down on my seat.

"Hey man! How's it goin'?" Jared asked, loudly.

"Would you quiet the hell down. You are so fucking annoying!"

"Well I can see we are in a happy mood today," he replied as happy as ever. I simply could not deal with him today. I started shaking. Once he realized what was happening he backed off.

"Alright, alright calm down; I'll leave you be. Just think about _her_. It helps," was all he said. With that images of Ella started to pop into my mind. I instantly calmed down knowing that if I had to leave because I had to phase, Sam wouldn't let me come back and I told her I would see her later. I knew she wasn't exactly excited about it, but I would still feel like I was letting her down.

The next few classes went by quickly and then it was lunch time. I went into the cafeteria and bought some lunch. I suddenly realized I didn't know where Ella sat in the lunch room. I started looking around trying to find her.

"She doesn't eat in here."

I turned to see it was Kim talking to me. Jared and her must have sat down across from me while I was looking.

"What do you mean?" I asked confused by her statement.

"She eats in the library."

"Why?" At this point I was thoroughly confussed. A flash of hurt went through me. She must not want to see me.

"... so she usually eats in the library." I must have zoned out when she started talking, wallowing in my self-pity.

"Were you even listening Paul?" Jared asked me. I just shook my head, letting them both know I wasn't.

Kim started again. "While you were gone, Mindy and her little group... well, pretty much everyone in the school really, were really mean to her. She had a bunch of stuff spilled on her and she was tripped a few times. She eventually just started eating the library."

About half-way through Kim's speech I had started to shake. The thought of my imprint being bullied made me see red.

"Paul you need to calm down. If you have to go phase, Sam won't let you come back." Jared tried to calm me. It wasn't working this time.

Then Kim started talking.

"She needs you Paul. She is probably really lonely. You should go eat with her. Maybe then she will realized you want to be her friend. Then she won't be terrified of you."

With that I grabbed my food and my bag and practically ran to the library. Kim was right. My imprint was feeling crappy about herself and she was sick. I needed to fix things. I ran into the library. This of course brought me a very rude look from the librarian. I slowed down not wanting to get kicked out.

I looked around and couldn't find her sitting at any of the tables. I decided to look through the rows of books. As I got closer to the back I could smell the distinct sent of vanilla that was my imprint.

Then I saw her. Sitting on the ground in the very back of the library. She looked so sad and lonely sitting there by herself. She didn't have any food out or anything; she was just sitting there, kinda hugging her knees. Things were going to change. I slowly walked down the row, trying to make a little noise so I wouldn't completely scare her.

"Hey, mind if I join you?" And with that she look up at me with this terrified expression and tears running down her face.

I was going to kill whoever caused this.


	15. Chapter 15

_Previously_

_"Hey, mind if I join you?" And with that she look up at me with this terrified expression and tears running down her face._

_I was going to kill whoever caused this._

**Paul POV**

I wasn't exactly sure who was the cause of my imprint sitting on the ground, backed into a corner, crying her eyes out, but to say I was pissed would be an understatement. I was seeing red. My initial reaction was to phase, but that was immediately dismissed. She needed me more. I was going to actually have to thank Kim for getting me to come find her.

I slowly walked toward her, trying to be as nonthreatening as possible. She seemed to shrink back away from me. The tears were just streaming down her face at this point. I slowly sat down on the ground in front of her. She was just staring at me with super wide eyes.

"Shhhh... it's okay. I'm not going to hurt you Ell. It's just me. Shhhh... you're going to be fine. Everything's fine." I kept whispering reassuring words to her. Eventually she just buried her head in her arms, which were hugging her knees to her chest. I scooted closer to her, trying to check and make sure she wasn't physically hurt. I didn't smell any blood so that was good. I noticed that she had some bruises just starting to form on her wrists. I took a couple deep breaths not wanting to have to back up any or leave.

Very slowly, so as not to startle her, I put my arms around her. At first she stiffened up even more, if that was even possible. As she continued to cry, I started to rub her back, trying to comfort her. I was a bit out of my depth here, but I was going to do everything I could to make everything okay again. Ella slowly started to relax as she realized I wasn't going to hurt her. I kept making soothing sounds, trying to calm her down. To say I was surprised when she turned into me and started crying on my shoulder would be an understatement. Don't get me wrong, I was fucking ecstatic, just surprised.

"There you go honey. Just breath," I encouraged as she finally stopped silently sobbing. I was hugging her to me not wanting to let go. So, to avoid that little inconvenience, I pulled her into my lap and continued rubbing her back. As I lifted her up she stiffened and made a little squeak of surprise. She quickly relaxed again. She wasn't quite hugging my back, but she also wasn't pushing me away. Progress.

Ella just kinda sat there, in my lap, getting her breathing back under control. I just continued to hug her to me.

"I'm sorry," I barely heard whispered to me, as Ella started to try to push away from me. I just continued holding her.

"There is nothing for you to be sorry for," I stated as I finally let her go a bit so that I could look at her face, but she couldn't get out of my lap. "Do you want to talk about it?" I asked as calmly and kindly as I possibly could. I went to push a piece of hair behind her ear, but she flinched back away from me. I looked at her wondering what had caused that. "Ella please. Tell me what happened so I can go have a little chat with the asshole who caused this." It started out as more of a plea and eventually turned it a bit of a threatening statement. Ella looked scared by the end of my little rant. I quickly change my tone. "Fine, I wont do anything, but please, tell me what happened so I can make sure it doesn't happen again."

She just shook her head, telling me no.

"Ugh, fine." I pulled her back in so I could continue hugging her, knowing I was doing something to help her at the very least. Of course just then the bell rang. I set her on the ground, grabbed all of our stuff and then helped her up. Neither of us were able to eat by the looks of it so I didn't throw out my lunch, but rather brought it with us. I put my arm around Ella as we walked out of the library and toward the math rooms. Ella seemed to shrink into me as we walked through the halls. I suddenly realized everyone seemed to be staring at us.

We finally arrived at the classroom. I pulled Ella into our extra room we were using to catch me up. Just then Mr. Mickilic walked into the room. Ella was just standing next to the door, not sure were to go.

"Good you guys are already set up to go! Get to work. Make sure you keep him in line alright Elly?" Mickilic told her. Ella just giggled and nodded her head. I stared at them in disbelief. He just got her to laugh! I could barely get her to stop sobbing and this guy gets her to actually laugh. A real laugh too! Mickilic just winked at Ella and walked out the door. She slowly walked over to me with a little smile on her face. She sat down and started to get everything ready for our fun math lesson. Woooo math. Sensing the sarcasm? Good.

I then remembered that neither of us had eaten. I quickly set Ella's lunch in front of her right on top of all of the math stuff. She looked over at me surprised, almost like she had forgotten about eating. When she realized I was eating, whether she was going to join or not, she opened up her lunch and start to eat. I finished before her even though the girl barely ate anything. No wonder she was so tiny.

Class was about half over when we had both finally finished. Just then the door to the class opened up. Expecting to see Mickilic, Ella looked over with a little smile on her face. I was watching her face, enjoying seeing my imprint so happy, until she wasn't anymore. Ella quickly looked down with a frightened look on her face. I looked up to see that rather than Mr. Mickilic, Ashley had walked in. This little bitch just doesn't give up. I then realized that Ella had the same face that she did in the library.

Shit. This meant I can't beat the person up, seeing as I don't hit girls... though I could be an asshole still. Ashley sauntered over to me and practically shoved her boobs in my face. "Hey Paulie!" she said in this super obnoxious voice.

"What do you want Ashley? And would you back up?! I don't want you nasty self anywhere near me," I snapped at her. Why would I want her when my beautiful imprint was sitting right here. She took a step back, like I had slapped her.

"What is wrong with you Paulie? Just cuz the little ugly bitch is here doesn't mean you have to pretend."

I closed my eyes trying to control my anger. I could not believe she just said those thing about my imprint. I glanced over to see how she was holding up. Ella looked like she was holding on by just a thread. I needed to wrap this up quickly. I hoped she wouldn't hate me for this.

"For your information, the beautiful girl sitting next to me would be my girlfriend, you bitch, so I would suggest you don't mess with her, or speak poorly of her, again or you will be dealing with me." Ashley made this strangled sound, turned, and stomped away.

As soon as she was out the door, I looked over at Ella. She was stare at me with a mixture of emotions on her face, disbelief, shock, and sadness all playing a part.

"Please don't be angry. I just didn't want her to continue to be mean to you..."

"Why did you do that? You didn't have to; everyone is going to be mean to you now. Trust me you don't want to be associated with me," Ella said as tears started to gather in her eyes. One suddenly escaped and slid down her face. I just looked at her in disbelief.

"So, just to clarify real quick, you are not angry?" I asked just to be sure. She shook her head to tell me that no, she wasn't angry. I quickly turned my chair so I could reach her easier. I pulled her out of her desk and into my lap. I hugged her close and waited to see if she would hug back. She didn't, but she also didn't try to get away. She actually leaned into me and rested her head on my chest. Progress made.

"Just so you know, no one is going to be mean to me for being with you. I would be more than happy to even be considered your friend," I told her, wanting her to know that I would be proud to be associated with her. "Is Ashley the one that got you upset in the library?" I asked. She immediately stiffened, alerting me to the fact that I was right. "Why didn't you want to tell me?" I wondered allowed, a little hurt by the fact.

Ella simply shrugged her shoulders, not giving my an answer.

"I want you to know that you can tell me anything okay? I'm going to go ahead and consider us friends, so I want you to know that you can always come to me," I told her hugging her close again.

Very timidly, the girl in my lap wrapped her arms around my waist. I wasn't expecting much so when she did this I was rather surprised. I just hugged her closer and smiled.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" Ella whispered.

"Is there a reason that I shouldn't be nice to you? I know I've been an asshole in the past, but I want for us to start over. Is that okay?" I asked just hoping she wouldn't tell me to stay the hell away from her. I would understand if she did, I was terrible to her.

I looked down to see her nod her head. " It's just that no one is ever really nice to me... This isn't a joke is it?" she asked as her eyes started to water again.

"No! Of course not. I would never do that to you." She looked at me skeptically. "I promise."

"Okay." I smiled down at her.

Just then the bell rang, signaling that class had ended. I was glad we had all of next period together. I was determined to find out what had happened between her and Ashley.

**I hope everyone is enjoying the story! Feel free to let me know how you feel, either through review or a PM. This is my first time writing anything, so if you have any suggestions or comments on my writing (amount of detail in the story, plot progression, grammar, story progression, etc) please let me know! **

**Thanks for reading : ) **


	16. Chapter 16

**Paul POV**

People are assholes.

As we exited the classroom to go over to study hall, I didn't put my arm around Ella. I didn't want to overcrowd her and freak her out. We were just walking down the hall when all of a sudden I see Ella fall forward. She quickly flipped herself so she wouldn't be landing on her cast. I wasn't quite sure what had happened. All of a sudden, everyone in the hall started laughing. I quickly bent down and helped her to her feet, glaring at everyone in the hallway.

I looked over toward the lockers to see none other than Daniel Andrews, smugly leaning up against the wall. Little prick did it on purpose! I started shaking and was about ready to storm over to beat his ass, when I felt a tiny hand touch my chest. I looked down to see my imprint standing there looking like she was about to cry.

"Can we just go please. I don't want you to do anything you will regret," Ella whispered, looking fixedly at the ground. I knew that if I made a scene, I would just be making her feel uncomfortable. I simply took Ella's books, grabbed her hand, and started walking off to study hall. I quickly pulled her to the back of the room and sat down. As she sat down, I turned to look at her.

She glanced up at me and then down at her books sitting on my desk with a bit of an apprehensive look on her face. I quickly handed them over. I wanted answers, but I didn't want her to feel pressured or scared.

"What did you mean? When you said about me doing something I would regret?" I asked confused.

"If you hit someone you would get in trouble. I'm not worth that," she replied with a sad face. I looked at her in disbelief as she continued on. "Plus if you stick up for me, people will be mean to you. I don't want to be the cause of that."

"I don't really care what those idiots think of me. And you are certainly worth getting in trouble for, and then some," I replied wanting her to understand that I would beat the shit out of any one that hurt her. I needed her to know I would do anything for her. The only response I received was a shake of the head and a skeptical look. I wasn't sure what else to say about this. At this point everyone else had come into the room. I continued on to the next topic keeping my voice quieter than normal so as not to attract extra attention to us. "Now can you tell me about what happened with Ashley?" I asked her wanting to know what that little bitch had done to cause her to get so worked up.

Ella quickly shook her head, showing she was not willing to talk about it right now. I just sighed, not sure what to do. I slumped down in my chair, watching my imprint work away on her math homework. I decided I would try to do some of mine. I figured if I was stuck, I could just ask the angel sitting next to me. I slowly worked through about five problems with my imprints help. She would periodically look over to check and see how I was doing. If I had done something wrong she would tell me, and if I was stuck, she would give me hints until I was able to figure out what I needed to do. She probably thought I was an idiot, but if it kept her talking to me I would take it.

All to soon I realized the bell was ringing, signaling the end of the day. I quickly packed up, so that whenever Ella was done, I could go with her. When she had finished putting everything into her backpack, I grabbed it from her so that I had a reason to walk her to he locker. When we finally got to Ella's locker, she must have realized she still had my sweatshirt on. As she went to pull it off, I quickly put a restraining hand on the one that was grabbing the bottom hem.

"You can keep it on. Your clothes are still wet and I don't want you to get sick," I explained. There was also the added benefit that I got to see her wearing my clothes. She looked up at me in wonder. Maybe she was finally starting to believe that I really did care for her.

"Okay, thanks," she shyly replied with a little smile on her face. Ella then looked down and quietly said, "But I don't want to ruin it, so maybe you should just take it back now."

"How are you going to ruin it? I'm sure it will be fine. Please wear it," I said, getting more desperate as each word floated from my mouth. I just wanted to take care of her. I _needed_ her to let me.

"But I have to walk home, and it is raining, and it will get all wet, and then it might be ruined, and then you would hate me again," she said becoming more and more panicked.

"Well I can easily solve that problem! I'll just drive you home. You shouldn't be out walking in the rain. You are going to get even more sick than you already are." As if to prove my point, Ella started harshly coughing. I looked down at her, concern radiating from me. When she finally stopped coughing, she looked up at me. I could tell by the look on her face that she was scared. I gasped at the hurt that I saw there. I wasn't sure why she was scared, but I was going to find out and save her from what ever it was.

"I don't know if that is a good idea," Ella whispered out, as she looked pointedly at the floor. I was concerned that I was damaging all the progress that I had made.

I quickly tried to reassure her. "Please Ella. I promise nothing bad will happen to you. I just don't want you walking home. It is storming and you could get hurt... or lost," I added on as an after thought. I then heard the most amazing sound in the world, a small, quiet giggle. I quickly looked up to see that Ella had a tiny smile on her face. I looked at her questioningly, wondering what was so funny, it was making her laugh.

"Paul, I don't think I will get lost going to _my __house_," was the quiet response that I received. I slowly relaxed realizing that I hadn't totally ruined all the progress I had made thus far. I smiled down at Ella, realizing the stupidity of my argument.

"True, but all the other points are still valid. Please," I asked again.

Ella sighed, giving into my request. She quickly filled her bag, which I then proceed to take from her. "Ready?" I asked. She nodded her head and stared up at me. I was gazing into her beautiful eyes, enjoying getting to see those gorgeous pools of crystal blue, when I realized that she was giving me an odd look. "What?" I asked unsure as to why my imprint was looking at me so unsure. Ella bit her lip and looked down at the floor. I instantly missed the connection with my imprint that was there just a minute ago.

"I'm sorry, I just don't know where to go," Ella whispered, sounding close to tears. I was shocked to say the least. Why did she want to cry? And why was she apologizing?

"Right, sorry. Come on," I said as I grabbed her hand to lead her to my locker to grab my stuff. I really just wanted to have a reason to hold her hand, Plus I wanted to distract her so she wouldn't cry. I started walking toward my locker, when I realized she was having trouble keeping up with me. She was significantly smaller than me so that would make sense. I quickly slowed down so that Ella could actually walk with me, rather than after me. "Sorry," I said, hoping she would forgive my over sight. Ella simply looked up at me and gave a little smile.

**Ella May POV**

I'm not quite sure what to think of Paul and all the nice things he is doing for me. At times it seemed like he relay meant what he was saying, but there is always that doubt that he is just being nice so he can hurt me later on. I can't really remember a time when someone was nice to me without having an ulterior motive.

As soon as I was done putting my stuff in my bag from out of my locker Paul asked if I was ready to go. I nodded my head and looked up at him. He just continued to stare at me. "What?" he asked as though I should know what to do next. I felt like such an idiot, just like Rick always told me I was. I quickly looked to the ground explaining that I didn't know where to go. I was so close to letting the tears fall. Paul would never want someone as stupid as me. Paul apologized, for goodness knows what, then proceeded to grab my hand.

I felt him start to pull me forward. I wasn't quite able to keep up with him. He really was going to hate me soon. Suddenly, Paul looked back realizing that he was practically dragging me along. He slowed down and walked right next to me rather than in front of me. He looked down ashamed and said, "Sorry."

I quickly looked up at him and realized there was no irritation in his eyes. He didn't hate me for being stupid and slow. I let a little smile slip onto my lips. We soon arrived at Paul's locker. As he was gathering his stuff I thought over how scared I was to be getting into a car with a man that I barely knew, who could so easily hurt me. I knew it wasn't rational. Paul had been so nice to me lately. Perhaps that was only adding to the nervousness, not knowing why he was being kind to me. I quickly calmed myself down. Paul wasn't going to hurt me, I hoped. I looked up as I felt him grab my hand, yet again. I suddenly realized that while I was scared of the situation I was about to be in, Paul actually made me feel kinda safe.

As we walked out to the parking lot, hand- in- hand, I thought that maybe this wouldn't be so terrible.


	17. Chapter 17

**Paul POV**

I was so happy. My imprint was trusting me. Even in the smallest amount, trust was trust.

I quickly grabbed all the books I would need tonight out of my locker and threw them into my backpack. I was fucking excited to be able to finally take care of my imprint. I closed my locker with a little more force than necessary and quickly turned around. I grabbed Ella's hand again and started to lead her out to the parking lot. The sky was pouring rain as we walked to the car. I quickly unlocked it and opened the passenger door. I turn around to see that Ella was standing there looking terrified but trying to calm down. I softly touched her arm to get her to look at me.

"You okay?" I questioned, speaking loud enough so she could hear me. The only response I received was a tiny nod of the head. I waited for her to get into my truck. She still didn't move. "Do you want help getting in?" I asked wondering if she was trying to figure out a way to climb up into the truck seeing as it was rather high for her to be able to get in easily.

"Okay," was whispered to me. It was a good thing I had wolf hearing other wise I would never hear a word she said.

I slowly put my hands around her waist and lifted her into the cab. I set her down very gently, not want to scare or break her. She was so tiny I was concerned I would end up hurting her if I wasn't gentle. I quickly shut the door and ran to the drivers side and hopped in. I quickly started the truck and turned on the heat. I could tell Ella was already freezing by how much she was shivering. I looked over to see her staring at her hands in her lap.

"Hey," I said trying to get her to look up. When she finally did I saw how scared she was. "What's wrong?" I asked wanting to know if there was some way for my to make her feel more comfortable.

Ella merely shook her head, trying to tell me she was fine. I knew she was lying but also didn't want to push her.

I looked at my imprint again to realize that she was still shivering. I quickly threw my bag on the ground, reach over to her, and scooted her into the middle. I knew I was probably freaking her out, but I also didn't want Ella getting sick. I wrapped my arm around her shoulder, buckled her in with my other hand, and then started the drive to her house.

"I'm not really sure where you live so just tell me where to turn, okay?" I said in a soft voice, while glancing down at her.

Ella glanced up at me, "Okay." She looked down at her hands again and then out the window. "Take a right up here."

I nodded my head in confirmation and turned where she had indicated. I glanced down at my angle sitting next to me, not being able to believe this was happening. Not only was I driving her home, but I also had my arm around her. As we continued on with her directing us, Ella slowly started to relax. I realized that she was probably rather warm. I looked down to see she had a little more color in her face. Rather than removing my arm, I reached and turned down the heat.

As I pulled into her drive I realized that the drive was almost 15 minutes. That wasn't really a long time to drive, but for her to walk it must have taken her awhile. I quickly grabbed at the opportunity to spend more time with her.

"That must take you a while to walk from here to school. I could come give you rides if you wanted." I stated hoping she would accept.

"I don't want to be an inconvenience," was her whispered reply. It made me angry to realize she though so little of her self. I was going to put an end to that.

"No, it wouldn't be a problem at all. Please let me pick you up tomorrow." I realized I had never used the word please as much as I had in the past few days.

"I don't want to be a problem. I'll probably embarrass you and everyone at school will be mean to you too," Ella said, sounding like she was on the verge of tears. I looked at her like she was crazy. She just didn't get how much I didn't care what the idiots at school thought. I quickly pulled my angle into my lap and hugged her to me. I couldn't stand to have her cry. At first she tensed up, but after 3 or 4 minutes she started to relax. I looked down to see her eyes streaming tears. That was simply unacceptable.

"I can promise you, you will never be a problem and that the people at school are fucking idiots. I don't care what they think. Please let me drive you to school." I said in as soothing a voice as I could manage, staring into her eyes.

"Okay," Ella said with a small smile on her face. I beamed down at her and pulled her as close as I could manage.

After a couple of minutes I realized I should probably let her go. I was enjoying having her in my arms far too much. Honestly if I could just hold her for the rest of my life I would be fine. I hugged her tight one last time and finally pulled back a little bit. "I should probably let you go now. I'll be here in the morning to pick you up, okay?" I asked wanting to make sure she wasn't going to just walk anyways.

Ella simply nodded and slid off of my lap. She grabbed her bag off the ground and opened the door. As she slipped out of the truck I heard a quiet, "Bye."

I watched her walk up to the door and into the house. As I was backing out of the drive way I felt like doing a dance. I couldn't believe my luck. My imprint was going to be stuck in all of our classes with me as well as in the car to and from school. As creepy as that sounds, I couldn't be more excited.

I quickly drove home and got started on my homework. I ate a quick dinner and headed out to patrol. As I phased, I heard both Sam and Jared.

"Good, you're hear Paul. Billy called, said the leeches left town. Unfortunately, Bella Swan, Chief Swan's Daughter, is now missing. Billy wants us to go out and help look for her. We are heading over to Forks now," Sam instructed.

"Why do we even care about the fucking leech lover?"

"Because Chief Swan is friends with Billy, and Billy asked us to."

"Fine."

"Don't start with me Paul. I want to be home right now too. I would much rather be with Emily than out looking for some teenager." As Sam said this thoughts of him and Emily flashed through his head. I internally cringed, along with Jared, at the sight.

"Hey Paulie boy!"

Damn, I knew the peace couldn't last forever.

"Hey! I heard that! Honestly what would you do with out me?!"

"Live a happy, peaceful, headache free life," I sarcastically retorted.

"GUYS! Focus. Lets split up. Jared take the East side. Paul you take the West. I'll head North. Let's get this done and over with," Sam directed.

After about a half an hour Sam finally found a trail. Jared and I both head back that way, but by the time we had gotten to the area, Sam already had the girl and was carrying her home. I started my normal patrols and Jared headed off to see his imprint. I finished up my patrols and headed home. I jogged into the house and took a shower. I'm not sure if I had ever been more glad to see my bed before; I was fucking tired.

As I plopped into bed, I thought about what the next day would bring. I couldn't wait to spend time with my imprint. I fell asleep with thoughts of my beautiful angle running through my head.

**AN: Hey everyone! I hope you all enjoyed the new chapter! Please feel free to let me know what you think; I'm always happy to find out your opinions. Just to let everyone know, I will be trying to include major plot points of the books, but my story is going to be focusing on Paul and Ella, so I won't be including major details from the series. Just to let you know : ) **


	18. Chapter 18

**Paul POV**

As I drove to my imprint's house the next morning, I was practically bouncing in my seat like a fucking 5 year old. I was so excited. As I drove up the drive way I heard two heart beats inside the house. She waited. I was a little nervous she was going to decide that she was no longer willing to give me a chance and would just leave.

I stepped out of the truck, preparing to go knock on the door, when I saw Ella walk out of the house and silently shut the door. I wondered who was still in the house. Why would she have to walk if someone was home? There was a car in the drive way which meant that the person could in fact drive. It was already raining, so I was glad that she was letting me drive so that she wouldn't get wet.

When Ella finally got all the way to the truck, I went to open the door for her. She looked up at me startled. "Thanks," Ella said quietly with a little smile on her face. I simply smiled back at her and waited for her to climb in. She stood there looking at the truck, and I finally realized she was probably trying to figure out how to get in like the day before.

"Can I give you a lift?" I asked, wanting to make sure I wasn't going to scare her. Any time I went to touch her, it seemed like she flinched away from me, unless she knew it was going to happen.

Ella looked up at me with a slightly scared expression on her face. I wasn't quite sure why she was scared, but proceeded to give her a boost, after she nodded that it was alright. I quickly lifted her in, shut the door, and ran around to the other side of the truck and hoped in myself. I contemplated getting a rail to go on the bottom of the truck so that she could get in easier, but then I decided against it, realizing I was enjoying helping her to much to let it end.

"How are you this morning?" I asked, wanting to get rid of the awkward silence that had descended on the vehicle. I slowly backed out of the drive, waiting for her answer.

"Okay. How are you?" Ella asked with a slight blush. I wondered why she was blushing. It wasn't like it was some scandalous question.

"I'm great!" I responded, wanting her to realize that I was happy to be picking her up. "Are you ready to work on the history project?" I asked not having anything else to ask her about. I didn't want to start asking a bunch of invasive questions about her life and scare her off, even if I did want to know everything about her.

She looked at me with a little smile. "Yeah, are you?"

"Sure." I responded. I heard the most beautiful sound. My imprint giggled. "What?" I asked with a little grin, wondering what had made her laugh. I looked over at her, wondering why she didn't respond. Ella was sitting there, staring avidly at her heads. I could tell she was either scared or nervous because her body was completely tense. "Hey. Don't do that." I said as I grabbed her hands. They were so tiny I could grab them in one hand. She flinched but I continued to hold them, wanting her to understand that I wasn't going to hurt her.

Ella looked over at me questioningly, as though she was expecting something else. "Come on I want to know why you laughed," I said with a smile, so that she knew I wasn't angry or anything, just curious.

"You just sounded so excited to get to work on the project," was the timid reply that I got as she looked back at her hands.

I gave a little chuckle. "Yes, I am sooo excited to get to do it," I responded sarcastically and gave her a wink. She giggled again.

As we pulled into the parking lot, I let her hands go, not wanting her to be uncomfortable. I quickly parked the truck and opened my door. As Ella went to grab her bag, I plucked it off of the seat and slung it on my bag along with mine, not wanting her to carry it with her broken wrist. "Wait there" I instructed. I jogged around to her side of the truck and open the door with a smile.

Ella giggled again and went to slide out. I quickly put my hands on her waist to make sure she didn't fall or anything as she was getting out. Ella glanced up surprised. She then blushed and looked down. I smiled again and shut the door. I grabbed her hand and led her into the school.

**Ella POV**

I woke up and rolled over in bed to see what time it was. As I was looking at the clock confused at what I was reading, I realized that I was not reading it wrong but rather the alarm was not set! I quickly jumped out of bed and then sat right back down. I hadn't eaten last night, and I felt like I was going to pass out as soon as I stood up. I tried again slower this time. Much better!

I quickly walked over to my closet and picked out a hoodie to wear for the day. I needed something that would cover my wrist. I had a bruise for the day before from my interaction with Ashely. I was simply sitting in the library, minding my own, like usual, when all of a sudden the book I am reading is knocked out of my hand. I looked up to see Ashely standing there smirking down at me. I stood up, not wanting to be in the position I was in. I learned quickly from living with my father that you never want to be on the ground when having a fight, even if it was just verbal.

"You know the only reason he is hanging out with you is because you are so pathetic right?" She sneered down at me. Ashley was easily a good 4 inches taller than me. Of course, I knew she was talking about Paul. "I still don't know why he is hanging out with you when he has me. It must be a prank. Oh maybe it is because of a dare!" I blankly stared back at her even though I was sobbing on the inside. I knew that he couldn't actually like me. No one did.

"Either way, stay away from him, you little bitch." With that, she grabbed my wrist to hold me in place and then punched me in the stomach. I knew I was going to have bruises from both. She quickly pushed me to the floor and left, after the threat, "Stay away from him. He is MINE. Next time I have to remind you of that, you won't like the consequences." After she walked away I broke out in tears, where Paul later found me.

I did in fact get a bruise on my wrist, as well as my stomach. My ribs were killing me. And yet, I was still hanging out with Paul. Heck, he was driving me to school for goodness sakes! I'm just glad he seemed to have forgotten about the bruise. He was furious, though I don't know why, when he saw it.

I wasn't sure what was going to happen with Ashley, the real reason as to why Paul was wasting his time on me, or what was going to happen, but I did know that I liked spending time with him, even if he did frighten me sometime. I know that most of the time, I actually felt safe with him and important. I wasn't going to stop just because some jealous girl told me to.

I quickly threw on some leggings with my sweatshirt and some boots. The only thing I had ever splurged on. I had bought some fake UGG boots, knowing I would be walking a lot in cold weather. I had also bought some water proofing spray so the didn't get ruined with all the rain and what not. The were expensive but worth it.

I ran down stairs as quietly as I could, knowing that daddy dearest would be in the living room sleeping off the hangover. I looked in the pantry and grabbed a granola bar. I quickly threw together a lunch and ran upstairs to grab my bag. I looked out my window to see that Paul had just pulled up. As quickly and quietly as I could I ran downstairs and out the door. I shut the door silently and walked down the sidewalk to get to Paul's truck. I was nervous and scared as ever, but I just kept think about the fact that it was just Paul and he was here to help me not hurt me.

By the time that I got to the truck, Paul was standing on the passenger side. I walked over, wondering what he was doing out of the car. Paul open the door to the truck. I looked up at him surprised. No one had ever done that for me before. "Thanks," I said as I turned around to get in. I looked at the thing wondering how I was going to do it. I couldn't exactly pull myself up because of the whole broken wrist thing.

From behind me I heard, "Can I give you a lift?" I looked up at him, hoping the utter fear wasn't showing on my face. I nodded my head and prepared for him to touch me. He gently set me down, closed the door and ran over to the other side to get in.

As he was slowly pulling out of the drive way, Paul asked, "How are you this morning?" I blushed, surprised that he asked. No one every really cared enough to do so.

"Okay. How are you?" I quietly asked.

"I'm great!" He seemed so happy. I had assumed that he would be annoyed, having to pick me up and what not. "Are you ready to work on the history project?" Okay, so I guess he wanted to chat.

"Yeah, are you?" I couldn't really think of anything else to say.

"Sure..." He sounded so sarcastically excited, I had to giggle. "What?" he asked. I blanched quickly. I laughed at him. He was probably furious. I fixedly stared at my hands not wanting to see his furious expression. "Hey. Don't do that." I hear Paul say. I was so tense I couldn't even look at him to inquire what he was talking about. I saw his hand out of the corner of my eye coming toward me. I flinched away as he grabbed my hands. I wasn't sure what he was doing. He was being so gentle, I didn't really know what he was going to do.

I looked over at him questioningly as he said, "Come on I want to know why you laughed." I saw that he had a smile on his face. Maybe he wasn't as furious as I assumed he would be. He was so happy, and curious.

I replied, "You just sounded so excited to get to work on the project," nervous as to what he was going to do next.

Paul simply chuckled and responded, "Yes, I am sooo excited to get to do it," sarcastically, with a wink. I giggled, relieved and happy that Paul wasn't angry with me.

As we pulled into the parking lot, Paul removed his hands from mine. I realized that he must not want anyone else to see. It would be embarrassing to be seen holding hands with me. It was already bad enough he was seen giving me a ride. What Ashley said suddenly came back to me. He must be just doing it out of pity. I felt so dejected. As I went to grab my bag, he snached it away. As I went to ask why, I heard him say "Wait there," as he closed the door. I saw him walk over to my side of the truck and he open my door. To say I was surprised would be an understatement. He smiled at me and for some reason, I giggled. I was relieved he didn't just leave me there and walk away with all my stuff.

I went to slide out of the humungous truck, when I felt Paul's large hands at my waist, guiding me down so that I didn't fall. I looked up at him surprised. I knew I must be blushing so I looked down.

Paul quickly shut the door, grabbed my hand, and started dragging me into school.

I wasn't sure what the day was going to be like, but I knew it certainly wasn't going to be normal.

**AN: Hope you all are enjoying the story! Please let me know what you think thus far! I would really like to know what you all think. Is it moving to slow? Are the characters interesting? Is the story line interesting? Constructive Criticism is always welcome as long as it is constructive! Feel free to review, PM me, etcetera! **

**P.S. This is the longest chapter yet! Let me know what you think of having both POVs as well. To much? Just enough? I felt like it was a bit repetitive at parts and it didn't really cover very much... So please tell me what you think! **


	19. Chapter 19

**AN: Thank you very much to lollipoof for reviewing, prompting me to update, and giving suggestions/ feedback!**

**Paul POV**

Walking into school with the most beautiful girl on my arm had both its advantages and disadvantages.

On the positive side, I got to spend even more time with my imprint. Everyone seemed to understand that if they messed with her, then they were messing with me. Hopefully this meant that people would stop being assholes and leave her alone. A disadvantage of walking in with her was that I had to see all of the guys leering at her. She may be under the impression that everyone hates her, but there are plenty of guys that would like to get into her pants. They better get the picture that she is mine. They can fucking keep their eyes and their hands to themselves.

As we walked through the halls, I realized my locker was farthest from our class. I really wanted to walk her to her locker and to class, so I started to detour us. Ella looked at me questioningly, but I just smiled down at her. She's a smart girl; I knew she would figure it out. I pulled her over to my locker and let go of her hand. I chanced a glance at her and realized she wasn't really sure what to do. I hurried to throw everything unneeded into my locker and grab my history stuff.

I then proceeded to grab Ella's hand and lead her to her locker. This whole time she was silent, and I was wondering if I was pushing it. That was all I needed. Scare her off by being to clingy. Wasn't that usually the girls' role? Oh well, guess I'm turning into a chick.

We soon arrived at Ella's locker. I handed her her back pack so she could do what she needed to and we could head off to class. As soon as she finished and closed her locker, I grabbed her books. I didn't want her carrying them with her broken wrist and what not. I then grabbed her hand and started leading her to history.

As we walked in, I realized how early we were. Ella and I were the first two people into class. I lead her to the back of the class and set her things down on her desk. Once I sat down at my desk, I turned to look at Ella. She was sitting in her desk, rearranging her book. She must be a neat freak. She was constantly organizing and reorganizing everything. Her desk, her locker, everything.

"Sooo… Any plans for this weekend?" I asked wanting to hear her voice.

Ella looked up at me startled. "No."

Great. Looks like it is up to me to make the conversation. "Are you just going to be doing homework or…?" I was hoping this would get her to talk some more.

"Yeah."

Or maybe not.

I turned back around, slightly frustrated. I was not one to make pointless conversation, but honestly, I just wanted to listen to her talk. She could talk about anything she wanted, and I would be happy to just hear her voice.

"Do you have any plans?" I heard whispered out.

It was my turn to turn to her startled. She initiated conversation. I must have looked like an idiot with my mouth hanging open like that. She looked uncomfortable and then she started to look really nervous which then turned into her looking upset. She looked down into her lap. I barely heard the whispered sorry that escaped her lips.

I quickly responded with, "Nope, I just plan on hanging out around my house, doing some homework and chores," trying to make her feel comfortable again. I wanted her to talk to me. I didn't need to scare her off by looking like an idiot.

Ella simply nodded her head. Great.

"Hey. Do you want to maybe hangout this weekend? We could do homework or just hang out and watch a movie?" I asked hoping she would say yes. I didn't want to scare her, but I also didn't know if I could go without seeing her for two days straight.

She again turned to me looking startled. It looked like her eyes would pop out of her head with how surprised she was. "Um…" was the only response that I got.

"We could hang out at your house if you wanted?" I suggested, not wanting her to feel uncomfortable with being alone with me at my house. At this suggestion though, she looked scared out of her mind. I quickly remedied with, "Or you could come to my house!" I would be ecstatic to have her in my home.

"I don't know. You really don't want to hang out too much with me Paul. I don't think you understand the consequences."

"I can promise you, I don't care what these people say about me and there is really nothing they could do to me. I could snap any of them in half," I stated confidently. I needed her to understand that I didn't care about any of these people's opinions. "We could even go out to eat if you didn't want to come to my house!" The idea of taking her on a date was almost as good as having her home with me.

"I guess I could maybe come over to your house." Ella seemed really nervous at this prospect and I instantly felt bad. I didn't want her to be scared of me.

"You don't have to if you don't want to," I told her, looking down, not wanting her to realize that I was kinda hurt. I didn't want her to be afraid, but I realized it was going to take time for her to get over everything I had done in the past.

"No. I do. Maybe we could work on the math. Finish catching you up?" She suggested with a blush, staring fixedly at her lap.

"Yeah! That sounds great!" At this she gave me a little smile and looked toward the front of the class. It was then that I realized that everyone had arrived and the teacher was about to start giving directions. I sat there half listening to the teacher talk and half trying to hide my excitement at having Ella agree to coming over this weekend.

After 50 minutes of pure torture by history lesson, the bell finally rang. I quickly packed up and waited for Ella to finish. As soon as she was done, I grabbed all of her things. I think she was getting used to it because she didn't try to pick her stuff up.

With a little giggle, Ella led the way to the door. She let me walk her to class, where I unfortunately had to leave her to go to fucking science. I slowly trudged off to class, knowing that if I skipped Sam would be pissed. I plopped down into my seat and pretended to listen for the first ten minutes while the teacher explain the lab we were doing. She then split us up into groups. I surprisingly go put with all the openly smart people. This meant they wouldn't let me do any of the work. While I was smart, I wasn't rocket science smart. I just sat back at let them work.

After about fifteen minutes, I was bored out of my mind. I decided to try and get out of the prison cell that is our science classroom. As this point I would rather randomly walk the halls than continue sitting doing nothing.

I asked for a pass to go to the bathroom from the teacher. Let's just say that our teacher didn't care very much. She looked up long enough to find my hand to put the paper in and then went back to working on whatever the fuck it is science teachers work on when they are not teaching.

I grabbed my books knowing I wasn't coming back. I decided to go to my locker so that I could be ready to pick Ella up as soon as her class let out. As I turned the corner to go to my locker, what I saw had me seeing red. Ella was pushed up against the locker by none other than Daniel Andrews, with his hand down her unbuttoned pants and her sweatshirt pushed up to reveal her breasts. I could hear Ella quietly sobbing while she was trying to get free. I could tell he was irritated. He quickly hit her across the face with his free hand and went back to what he was doing.

I charged down the hallway ready to be the shit out of him. I quickly detached the ass from my imprint and threw him to the ground. I delivered a quick kick to his stomach before I picked him up by the collar of his shirt and pushed him up against the lockers on the other side of the hall from where Ella was. I punch him in the face, wishing I could do it hard enough to break something but knowing that Sam would have my ass if that happened.

As much as I wanted to continue, I knew that I needed to take care of Ella. I also didn't want to freak her out. If she flinched away from me already, I didn't need to give her a reason to run in the other direction every time I tried to touch her.

"If you EVER touch her again, I will fucking kill you. Do you understand me?! Next time pick on someone big enough to fight back you little bitch!" With that I threw him to the ground again. I watched as he scrambled up and ran away from me as fast as he could.

I quickly turned around wanting to see my angel's face. I need to make sure she was okay. I saw her sitting on the ground, crunch up, hugging her knees to her chest. I was so far beyond pissed I contemplated going after that asshole, but decided Ella needed me more.

I slowly walked over to her and crouched down in front of her. I didn't want to scare her and I knew that if I touched her she would freak out. "Ell, honey, can you look at me? Please?" She flinched away from me and my heart broke. She was absolutely terrified, sobbing and shaking on the floor. I needed to find a way to calm her down before she started to hyperventilate. I could tell she was almost to that point.

"Angel, please look at me. It's Paul. I promise I won't hurt you. You can trust me." Ella tentatively looked up at me, raising her head just a little. I could tell when she finally realized it was me. A shocked look of recognition went across her face. With that Ella threw herself at me. I was shocked to say the least. I rocked back a little with the force of her hitting me and me being crouched down.

I figured we would be here for a while. I sat down all the way and pulled her into my lap. I started to rub her back and whisper sooth words to her. I made little comforting noises to her as I rocked her back and forth trying to calm her down. Her shaking started to lessen and soon her sobbing subsided. That little fucker was lucky that I needed to take care of Ella, otherwise I would be looking for somewhere to put his body.

I looked down to see how my girl was doing. As I was looking down at her tiny body sitting in my lap, Ella looked up with her tear streaked face and scared, puffy, red eyes. I slowly raised my hand and wiped her face a bit, getting rid of the tears that were still leaking from her face. I knew she was not going to want to stay here and honestly I didn't want her here any longer either. I was hoping she would be okay with my plan.

I slowly stood up and set her on her feet. I realized that her pants were still undone. I slowly lowered my hands, while watching her reaction, not wanting her to freak out. Ella didn't freak out, so I quickly buttoned her pants and pulled my hand away. I looked around and grabbed all of our things off the ground.

"Did you leave anything in your class?" I asked needing to know if we needed to stop there. Ella simply shook her head no. I slowly took her hand and began leading her to the nurse's office.

We walked in and I lead Ella over to a chair. She quickly sat down. I walked over to the nurse's desk to explain to Nurse Jan that Ella wasn't feeling well. She took one look at Ella and told me she would take care of everything. She then asked if I would mind making sure that she got home safe and sound. I of course didn't mind at all. Nurse Jan said she would take care of getting me excused from class and told me to get her home.

I went over to Ella and helped her up. I then led her to her locker. She seemed to be in a trance as she robotically got her stuff put into her bag and closed the door. I grabbed her bag. I quickly stopped by my locker, grabbed my crap, and was leading her to the truck. I threw the bags onto the ground and lifted her in. I slid her over to the middle and then shut the door. I ran over to the driver's side and hopped in. I quickly buckled both of us in and then turned to look at her.

"Ella?" I tentatively asked. She looked over at me, a scared look on her face. "Hey, don't be scared. I just wanted to know where you wanted to go. Your house?" With that suggestion she looked even more scared, to the point where she looked like she was going to cry. "That's fine! How about my house?" Ella gave a tentative nod of her head even though she still looked a bit apprehensive.

With her approval of the destination, I started up the truck. I pulled out of the lot and began the drive back to my place. I was practically praying that she would tell me what had happened. I knew it wasn't going to be easy, but I was going to do everything in my power to make sure she was okay.

**AN: Please let me know what you think!**


	20. Chapter 20

**AN: Warning- This is going to be the last warning I put into specific chapters (unless requested other wise). This chapter contains descriptions of violence and almost rape. I have put a warning in the description so that it covers the whole story. **

**Paul POV**

All I have wanted since I imprinted was to talk to her, get her to like me, have little babies, and live fucking happily ever after. I felt like I wasn't really asking for too much.

As we arrived home, well at my house, I wasn't really sure what to do. I knew I needed to find out what happened but I was more concerned with making Ella comfortable in our… my house. I didn't want her to be scared but I could tell that she was pretty freaked out. I was guessing that it was a mixture between having me so close and the incident.

As soon as I was parked in the driveway, which was essentially a really long dirt road leading to the street, I jumped out of the truck and turned around to help Ella out. She looked at me a bit skeptically and then scooted over so that I could lift her out. I left our stuff in the truck, more concerned with getting Ella out of the rain. Did I mention that it was raining? I know, shocker right?

I grabbed Ella's hand, surprised she didn't flinch away from me. We quickly walked up the steps and into the house. I wasn't quite sure what to do, so I looked down at Ella hoping for some guidance. As I saw her face I looked up to see what she was looking at. She had the most awed expression. I'm not really sure why because my house isn't all that impressive. "What do you think? I know it's not much, but…" I trailed off, hoping she would like it.

"I love it," was the quiet response that I received. She looked up at me with a little smile on her face. All I could do was smile down at her. I must have looked like an idiot, but at that point, I really didn't care. I had made my imprint smile, even though she was still shaken up by the incident at school.

With that settled I took my shoes off and my coat and then went to take Ella's for her. I saw her struggling with her shoes because of her cast and all. I went over to her and helped her get them off. She looked thoroughly embarrassed, but I was just happy to get to take care of her.

Once I had our coats hung up, I led the way to the living room. I was still nervous about what Ella was thinking. What she thought actually mattered; nobody's opinion had ever mattered to me before. When I looked down at her again she still had that look of awe on her face. I smiled, knowing that she actually liked it. As I was watching her look around, I noticed that she was shivering.

"Here, come sit down. I'll be right back," I said as I left the room. I quickly went and grabbed a couple blankets. I then remembered that her clothes were wet from the quick walk into the house. Fucking rain. I decided that I would give her some of my clothes. I then realized that nothing I owned would really fit her. After a few minutes of looking through everything that I owned, I finally found a pair of sweats and a t-shirt from pre-phase. I knew they would still be huge on her but it was better than nothing.

After all of this, I finally made my way back downstairs. As I walked into the living room, I noticed Ella standing off to the side. I looked at her questioningly trying to figure out why she hadn't sat down.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked as gently as I could.

"I didn't want to get your couch wet."

"Well here, I brought you some dry clothes. They will be huge on you but…" I trailed off unsure how to continue. Ella was looking at me shocked. I wasn't sure what she was so shocked about. I was just trying to take care of her.

"Thank you."

"Here you can change over here," I told her as I was started heading toward the bathroom. I heard her quiet footsteps follow me. Just barely. If I wasn't a wolf, I would never know when she was around, between the quiet walking and the almost silent talking.

I left her to get changed and rushed into the kitchen to make her some hot chocolate. I looked over at the clock and realized it was about time for lunch. I decided to make her a sandwich. And four for myself. I am a growing boy after all. Welllll… technically a growing wolf. Whatever.

Once I had finished up I grabbed everything and went back into the living room. I walked in to find Ella sitting on the couch.

"Hey I brought some lunch if you are hungry."

Again with the shock. It seemed like everything I did shocked Ella. I couldn't tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Thanks."

I handed her a sandwich and the hot chocolate and sat down to eat mine. We ate in silence but every now and then I would glance over at her. Ella finally looked like she was starting to relax. This of course made me ecstatic. I finished before her even though I had three more than she did. Once she was done I took our stuff back into the kitchen and then returned to the living room.

I wasn't sure how to broach the topic we needed to talk about. I decided to just dive right in. "Hey Ell, I know probably don't want to talk about it, but can you tell me what happened?" I asked as I sat down next to her on the couch. I yet again wanted to kill that asshole as my girl looked up at me with tears already falling down her face.

I couldn't handle seeing her like that, so I pulled her over into my lap. She immediately tensed up but quickly relaxed. She buried her head in my chest and just cried her eyes out. I sat there rubbing her back for 10 minutes trying to comfort her. Eventually she calmed down and just snuggled into my chest. I relished this time, despite the reason that she was upset. I loved having her in my arms. As I was holding her I felt how cold she was. I grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around her and then wrapped my arms around her. After a few more minutes, she took a breath and started in on her story.

"I was sitting in English working on another group paper. Once I finished it I took it up to Mrs. Snow and she told me that I could leave if I wanted. She knows that I do all the work in our group and doesn't do anything about it," Ella pouted. She looked so fucking adorable, sitting in my lap with her lip sticking out. "I decided I would go because I hate going through the hallways with everyone around. So I grabbed my stuff and walked out. As I turned the corner into the hall my locker is in, I felt someone grab me from behind." As she was talking, Ella was starting to get teary again.

"It's okay honey; take your time."

"The person put their hand over my mouth and picked me up from behind. I finaly realized it was Daniel when he started whispering things to me. He carried me over into that corner hall and set me down. As soon as I turned around, he pushed me up against the locker and started talking about what he was going to do. While he was doing this he was unbuttoning my jeans. I kept trying to get away from him but he was holding too tight."

I noticed Ella was rubbing her wrist and shaking in my arms. I looked down to see bruises forming on her tinny wrists. I was trembling this whole time with how mad I was but I knew I needed to keep it together for her.

Ella took a few deep breaths and then started again.

"He held my wrists in one hand and then started to unbutton his pants. I… I…I didn't know what to do. I tried getting away but I couldn't. He pushed me up against the lockers and shoved his hands down my pants." Ella was quietly sobbing again. I just continued to hold her and breath as calmly as I could. "He lifted up my shirt and was touching my chest. I think he got annoyed with me trying to get free because he hit me across the face. He went back to touching me again, but then you were there pulling him off of me…"

Ella looked up at me like I was some type of hero. While I was glad that she seemed to like me more than before, I should have been there to stop it from the beginning. I had to apologize, get her to forgive me for being useless. I had never felt like more of a failure in my life before.

"Ell, I am so sorry." She just looked up at me confused. I continued, trying to explain. "I should have been there to protect you and I wasn't. I'm so sorry. Please…" It came out as a whisper. I didn't know what I was asking for, I just knew that I had failed her. I couldn't even look at her.

Suddenly I heard my angel's voice, "Paul, this isn't your fault. I should be saying thank you. You saved me. If it wasn't for you he would have finished. So… thank you." I looked up to see my imprint sitting in my lap blushing away. I was glad she wasn't mad at me. Granted, I still felt like the biggest fucking failure on the planet, but it made it a little better knowing that this beautiful girl wasn't mad at me. I just hugged her to me not knowing what to say.

Ella snuggled up closer to me and just rested her head on my chest. We just sat there on the couch, not doing anything but giving each other comfort. After a while I realized that my girl had fallen asleep. I looked at the clock and realized it was 3pm. School would just now be letting out. I had to go to patrol, but I wasn't sure what to do with Ella. She seemed so peaceful and I didn't want to disturb her rest. She always looked fucking exhausted. She needed all the sleep she could get. I decided I would just leave her here and deal with the consequences when I go back. Other than her being freaked out if she woke up, I didn't really see a down side to this.

I laid Ella down on the couch and covered her with a blanket. I quickly went to the kitchen to get a piece of paper and a pen. I quickly wrote out a little note explaining that I wouldn't be back until about 8pm, but that she could help herself to anything in the house, food, bed, whatever she needed. I took the note, grabbed a bottle of water, and went back to the living room. I set the note and water on the ground next to the couch, hoping she would see them before she freaked out.

I hesitantly kissed Ella's head and ran out the back door, stripping on my way out. I ran into the forest and phased, starting on my patrols. I just hopped Ella would still be there when I returned.

**AN: Please let me know what you think and any suggestions (I cant promise they will be used, but definitely taken into consideration) or comments you may have about anything! : ) Hope you are enjoying the story thus far! **


	21. Chapter 21

**AN: Thank you soooo much to everyone who has favorited and followed my story! Thank you also to those of you who have review. You inspire me to want to keep writing this story : )**

**Ella May POV**

Have you ever woken up somewhere you don't remember going to sleep? Well I have to tell you, it is a bit disorienting. As I slowly opened my eyes to the strange room, I tried thinking of the last place I remember being. Slowly everything that had happened that day came floating back through the fog in my mind. I looked around wondering where Paul was. I remembered falling asleep in his arms after explain what had happened at school.

Looking down, I saw a water bottle and a note. I first grabbed to water to get rid of the terrible taste in my mouth and the dryness in my throat. Next I grabbed to note a read it. I couldn't understand why he would offer for me to stay if he wasn't here.

I slowly stood up and walked into the kitchen. I looked at the cloak on the stove to see that it read 7:55 in bright red letters. Paul would be here in five minutes. Wanting to say thank you to him for taking care of me, I decided to cook him dinner. Whenever I saw him eating, he also seemed to be eating enough to feed a small village.

I looked in the pantry to see a box of noodles and spaghetti sauce. I quickly turned the water in the sink so that it was hot water and found a pot to cook the noodles in. Filling the pot with the hot water, I set it on the stove and started the fire so that it would begin to boil.

After about ten minutes, the water was ready for the noodles. I poured the whole box in wondering if it would be enough to feed Paul. As I stirred the pasta I wondered where Paul was. It was 8:15 already and he still wasn't home. I figured he must have gotten caught up with whatever he was doing. After about fifteen minutes, I found a strainer, put it in the sink and poured the noodles into it. I quickly strained them and put them back in the pot and put a lid on top to keep them warm. I found another pot and poured the sauce in. After ten more minutes the sauce was ready.

As I was pour the sauce over the noodles and stirring it all together, the front door burst open. I let out a little 'eep' at the sound and turned around to see Paul rushing in. He stopped as soon as he saw me and just kinda stared at me. After a full minute of us looking at each other, I looked down blushing.

"Hey," Paul breathed out so softly I almost didn't hear him. I wondered if that what it was like for him talking to me most of the time. "You're still here."

I looked up to see a relieved look and small smile on his face. I gave a small nod and looked down again.

"Whatcha makin'?"

I looked back at the stove and realized I should probably explain and then leave. I didn't want him to feel burden with me here.

"I wanted to say thank you so I just cooked you some spaghetti. I'll leave so that I'm out of your hair, but I just wanted you to know that I appreciated everything that you did for me today," I said softly, looking up at the end.

Paul's face went from happy to sad as soon as I said that I was leaving. I couldn't understand why, but I decided to get out of his way so I started walking past him to go get my shoes on to leave. As I walked past him, Paul gently grabbed my hand. I looked up at him questioningly.

"Don't go. Stay and eat with me? Please?" Paul asked with a pleading expression.

"Okay." I figured it was better than going home right now. _Daddy dearest_ was sure to be pissed that I didn't have his dinner ready. If I stayed here a while longer, I might be able to avoid him beating me within an inch of my life tonight. Hopefully by the time I returned he would already be passed out.

Paul quickly walked over to the table and pulled out a chair looking at me expectantly. Shocked, I walked over and sat down. The food was soon on the table, along with forks and plates.

"Do you want something to drink? I have milk, water, juice, soda?" Paul questioned.

"Milk please." I didn't get to have much of it at home, seeing as my "father" didn't feel we had enough money for me to drink it. Just him.

Paul poured two glasses and sat down at the table, placing one glass in front of me and keeping one for himself. He quickly scooped a plate full of paste for the both of us. I slowly picked up the fork and took a bit. I looked up to seeing him scarfing it down like he hadn't eaten in two years. I hoped that meant it was good. I bit my lip nervous he would throw it to the ground and tell me it was terrible, that I was useless and couldn't do anything right.

"Ellie, this it _soo_ good," Paul moaned out. I looked up at him in both relief and shock. I didn't think it was that good but hey, if he did that was great. Paul looked across the table at me and smiled. I gave him a tentative smile back. "So do you want to watch a movie when we are done?"

I was surprised he wanted me to stay. "Sure." His smile seemed to grow if that was possible.

We continued to eat in a comfortable silence. I had finished about half my plate by the time Paul was getting his third. I was pretty much stuffed, but he just kept piling it in. By the time Paul had finished off the pot, I was three fourths through my first plate and was essentially just pushing the rest of it around the plate to make it look like I was still eating.

Paul looked at me a bit sheepishly and then concerned. "Ella, are you finished?" I could tell that he wasn't happy that I didn't finish my plate, but I could note put another noodle in my mouth. I nodded my head and pushed my plate away. "Okay… Well let's go into the living room and pick a movie." Paul stood up and waited for me to do the same.

"What about the dishes?" I asked. It wasn't normal for me to just leave a mess. I would feel bad leaving it for Paul later on. "I can do them now. I don't mind. I don't want to leave you with my mess."

"No, you already cooked for me. I can clean up later," he said. I glanced over and then down at me feet, biting my lip. I didn't like to leave messes.

"You aren't going to be comfortable until it is all cleaned, will you?" Paul asked, taking the taught right out of my head. I shook my head to tell him that no, I wouldn't be. "Okay, how about you wash and I dry?"

I looked up at Paul and gave him a smile. Quickly grabbing some of the dishes from the table I took them over to the sink and set them inside. I put the plug in and started the tap so that it would begin to fill. I grabbed the dish soap, which was next to the sink and squirted some in. Paul put the rest of the dishes in the sink. We finished up quickly and were soon walking into the living room to pick a movie.

Paul went to set up the tv leaving me to pick one out. I grabbed one randomly, seeing as I didn't really watch movies, so I didn't know what any of them were about. Giving it to Paul, I went and sat down on the couch and pulled my blanket over me.

Paul came over and sat down right next to me. He picked up the remote and pressed play. The movie was pretty good, but as it went on, I began to feel more and more sleepy. The last thing I remember before falling fully into dream land was Paul putting his arm around my shoulders and me snuggling into him.

**Paul POV**

Fucking Jared. Of course he was a half hour late on the one night that I needed him to be on time. When he phased in he was all apologies, but I was so pissed I wasn't even listening to him. I ran as fast as I could, hoping I would get home before Ella left. I quickly phased and pulled on my shorts, running up to the door and almost ripping it off its hinges, trying to find out if my imprint was still in my house.

As soon as I stepped in I heard a startled noise come from the kitchen as well as a heavenly smell: a mixture of my imprint and food. I ran into the kitchen and stopped dead in my tracks to stare at my girl. After about a minute she explained why she was there and when she started toward the door, I stopped her begging her to stay. We were soon eating dinner in companionable silence. The woman sure knew how to cook. Even if it was simply pasta, it was delicious and I made sure to let her know. I wasn't particularly happy with how much she ate, but I couldn't exactly shove it down her throat.

As I headed to the living room I realized my girl was really uncomfortable leaving the mess in the kitchen. I agreed to let her clean up, as long as I could help. Hey, whatever would keep her here with me for a little while longer.

As soon as we were done, we went into the living room and started a movie. The angle sitting next to me dosed off about thirty minutes into it. I slowly slid my arm around her. I was ecstatic that she hadn't made me scoot over when I sat down so close. I gently pushed her head over so it was leaning on my shoulder.

As the movie dragged on, I began to feel tired to. I slowly moved Ella and I so that we were lying down on the sofa, with her laying in front of me and my arm around her waist.

As the movie continued to play, I fell asleep with my imprint in my arms and a smile on my face.

**AN: Hope you all enjoyed! Feel free to review or PM me with any suggestions or comments you may have! Constructive criticism always welcome, if it is actually constructive and not mean : )**


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